Social skills are the skills that we use to communicate, both verbally and non-verbally, with each other. They include the use of verbal language, gestures, and facial expressions. Social skills also consist of the ability to express empathy, and comprehend our own emotions.
Social skill development is critical during childhood, because it determines a child’s ability to get along with others, create and maintain relationships, and succeed emotionally and academically. When children have strong social skills, they are more likely to listen to teachers, have a positive attitude about school, themselves and others, and have good conduct at home and in school.
Social Distancing & The Impact on Social Skills
With the impact of COVID-19, children’s social skill development has faced major barriers. Being confined to their home has hindered children from physically interacting with their peers. In addition, some children have experienced a lack of interaction with parents due to work schedules, parental stress and depression. Young children, impacted by this, have been stripped of the opportunity to learn basic social skills such as verbal communication, facial expressions, gestures, and recognizing emotions.
School-aged children have been affected at higher rates, because physical peer interactions are critical for social skill development in school-age children. Children under 5 years are able to develop early social skills through effective interactions with parents and/or siblings in the home.
Researchers have begun investigating the impact of the pandemic on social skill development; however, most studies are still in the data collection phase. Until the research findings are determined, parents can make a difference in their children’s lives and provide activities and outlets to promote social skill development. For parents, with children in the home between the ages of birth-12 yrs, I have listed tips for promoting social skills below.
Promoting Social Skills at Home
INFANT
Objective: During the first year of life, children develop basic social skills, such as recognizing facial expressions, gestures, and differences in others’ emotions and tone of voice.
Tips: Parents can introduce their infant to different emotions by getting on their child’s level, making eye contact, imitating facial expressions, and labeling emotions. A parent can lay the foundation for verbal communication by imitating their child’s coos and sounds in a conversational pattern. Finally, parents can instill early social skills in their infant by responding to their infant’s cues and establishing a secure attachment. Researchers have found that secure attachment is linked to strong social skills.
TODDLER
Objective: From one- to three-years-old, toddlers are learning how to label and recognize emotions and cooperate with others.
Tips: Parents can help children learn about cooperation by playing games that require listening, sharing, and taking turns. Parents can help children recognize and label emotions by reading books and encouraging their children to label their personal emotions as well as others.
PRESCHOOL
Objective: Children, three- to five-years-old, are able to master verbal communication with other children and adults. At this age, children are able to self-regulate.
Tips: Parents can encourage verbal conversations by talking with their children, as well as coordinating virtual playdates with a peer. Parents can help their children learn how to self-regulate by providing a space where their children can freely express themselves, let out emotions, and calm down.
SCHOOL-AGE
Objective: Peer interactions are critical to social skill development from six-years-old and forward. In this age range, it is possible for children to experience stress, anxiety, or depression as a result of limited social interactions with peers.
Tips: Parents can encourage peer social interactions by coordinating virtual meet-ups. The meet-ups can consist of the children engaging in some type of physical activity instead of just sitting and conversing. Parents can also create daily check-ins, in which they talk with their children about their day and discuss challenges and successes. For children 11 and older, it is beneficial to provide them time away from the family, being that preteens and teenagers need time to themselves to maintain mental wellness.
Social Circles
When possible, I highly recommend establishing a social circle. A social circle is a group of trusted individuals that you can physically interact with during a pandemic. Many people have established social circles since the initial quarantine, and they have been successful at socializing their children while minimizing their risk. Most social circles consist of close friends or family members that reside in the same geographical area. Members of the social circle limit their outings and interactions to within the circle.
If you are planning to create a social circle, I highly recommend having all adult members tested before you gather.
Social skills are so important and something that I wish more parents were mindful of before they start having issues. Especially now.
Yes. That is why I loved your blog post! Schools are putting more value on academics than they are on social skills, and many parents follow the school’s lead. Parents need to be informed about the benefits of social skills and how they can encourage their child’s social skill development.