Social skills are required to interact and communicate with others efficiently. Supporting your child’s social skill development will not only help their verbal communication, but it will also help them to observe and identify body language too.

Children with good social skills will find it easier to make friends, will feel more confident and will be better prepared for school and job interviews.

To help your child with their social skills, here are some useful tips from an independent school in Shepperton

Show them how to be social

It is important that adults set a good example for children to learn from. If you want your children to be polite, then you must remember to say please and thank you too! Teach your children to be kind to others and point out unkind behaviour on television programmes or in books. If you make a mistake or have a disagreement with your child, be sure to apologise later on and discuss your emotions together

Teach them how to make conversation

Does your child know how to greet others or how to start a conversation? These are important skills to practice as they will use them for the rest of their lives. Stress the importance of smiling and good eye contact during conversation. You can do this by demonstrating how it feels to talk to your child with and without a smile, and then with and without eye contact. Which did they prefer and how did it make them feel?

Talk about feelings

Helping your child to develop their social skills isn’t simply about teaching them to remember their manners, but to inspire them to think for themselves and understand feelings.
This should include how they feel and the feelings of others. By discussing feelings and emotions with your child you can teach them to have empathy for others. This will help them to respect the feelings and opinions of other people.