Social Skills

 1. Greetings. Children develop relationships with peers by

interacting with them. The first step in a social interaction is
greeting someone. We not only greet others with words like “Hi!”
or “How are you?” but with facial expressions, tone of voice and
gestures such as a nod or a wave. Children with social inability
may not say hello to people they know. They may walk right past
them and not even look at them. If they do speak, they may not
make eye contact and may simply look down at the floor. If they
do say hello, it might not be in a very friendly tone of voice or
with a smile.
 Initiating Conversation. After you have greeted someone,
you usually have a conversation with them. In order to carry on a
conversation, a child must be able to initiate the conversation,
maintain it and close it appropriately. This requires good listening
and attention skills, as well as the ability to take turns and probe
for missing information. Sometimes children cannot think of
anything to talk about. When you can’t think of anything to say, it
can be good to ask the other person a question. The question can
be about them or what they think about a movie or event that
everyone is talking about. Sometimes when children don’t know
what to say, they begin by talking about themselves or about
something that the other person is not interested in.
 Understanding the Listener, Part I. Once a conversation is
initiated, in order to maintain it, it is important to understand the
audience you are talking to. Children with social inability often
have difficulty adapting what they say to their listener. A socially
adept child quickly and unconsciously identifies and categorizes
his listener, measures what she planned to say against the
anticipated response of the listener, and then proceeds, alters or
avoids what she had planned to say.
 Empathizing. Empathy is similar to perspective taking but
means that you are able to feel what the other person feels.
Empathy allows you to really connect with other people. For
example, if a student got an A on a math test and her friend got a
D, she wouldn’t brag about her A to her friend because she knows
it will make her feel bad because she didn’t do well. She could
empathize with her by saying something like “That’s a bummer.”
Other children often think of children who lack empathy as mean,
unkind or self-centered.
 Apologizing. Everyone makes social mistakes at one time or
another. A person with good social skills is confident enough to
make a sincere apology for his error. This is a courageous act and
is the quickest and easiest way to correct a social blunder. Children
with weak social skills may have trouble saying they are sorry
because they can’t lose face. They are afraid that others may see
them as weak.
2. Social and emotional intelligence
involves understanding your feelings
and behaviors, as well as those of
others, and applying this knowledge
to your interactions and relationships.
Research has shown that those with
high emotional intelligence have
better attention skills and fewer
learning problems, and are generally
more successful in academic and
workplace settings. The concepts
highlighted in the Parent Toolkit are
based on CASEL’s five interrelated
sets of competencies. Many social and
emotional skills are developed over
time, and some adults are stronger in
this area than others, as is the case
with children. We offer the
information below to help you support
your child’s social and emotional
development, and to reflect on your
own skills in the process.

3. Physiological needs

Physiological needs are the physical requirements for

human survival. If these requirements are not met, the
human body cannot function properly and will ultimately fail.
Physiological needs are thought to be the most important;
they should be met first.

Safety needs

With their physical needs relatively satisfied, the individual's

safety needs take precedence and dominate behavior. In
the absence of physical safety – due to war.
Love and belonging

After physiological and safety needs are fulfilled, the third

level of human needs is interpersonal and involves feelings
of belongingness. This need is especially strong in
childhood and can override the need for safety as witnessed
in children who cling to abusive parents.

Esteem

All humans have a need to feel respected; this includes the

need to have self-esteem and self-respect. Esteem presents
the typical human desire to be accepted and valued by
others.

Self-actualization

Main article: Self-actualization

"What a man can be, he must be."[10] This quotation forms

the basis of the perceived need for self-actualization. This
level of need refers to what a person's full potential is and
the realization of that potential.

Self-transcendence

In his later years, Maslow explored a further dimension of

needs, while criticizing his own vision on self-
actualization.[13] The self only finds its actualization in giving
itself to some higher goal outside oneself, in altruism and
spirituality.[14]

4.Physical activity needs of children and youth

Children of all ages benefit from physical activity in their lives. The
type and amount of activity they need changes as they grow.

For healthy growth and development, infants and preschoolers should

be active several times during the day. All activity such as:

 tummy time on the floor reaching for toys

 rolling
 crawling
 climbing stairs
 running
 biking

Given physical needs: As animals we are born into a material world

where we need air to breathe, water, nutritious food and sufficient
sleep. These are the paramount physical needs. Without them, we
quickly die. In addition we also need the freedom to stimulate our
senses and exercise our muscles. We instinctively seek sufficient and
secure shelter where we can grow and reproduce ourselves and bring
up our young. These physical needs are intimately bound up with our
emotional needs — the main focus of human givens psychology.
5. Gender bias
Gender bias is a preference or prejudice toward
one gender over the other.

Creative Dramatic Play

Children express themselves through creative dramatic play. It

occurs daily in the lives of children, as they constantly imitate
the people, animals, and things in their world. It helps them
understand and deal with the world and promotes imagination,
one of life's essential ingredients.
Children utilize drama instinctively to try out new situations,
explore possibilities, express emotions, and solve problems. It is
a natural developmental process. Children's creativity in drama
play reflects their feelings, emotions, and imagination.

Gender identity

a person's inner sense of being male or female,

usually developed during early childhood as a
result of parental rearing practices and societal
influencing and strengthened during puberty by
hormonal changes.
How to avoid comparing your
children
Comparing Siblings
Do you worry about your kids fighting? One way parents can
work to lessen sibling rivalry and jealousy is to focus on each
child’s behavior without comparing him or her to a brother or
sister. It can be difficult to avoid comparing children, but it’s
worth the effort and is an important step to successfully
parenting siblings.

10. Although we as parents often wish to shield our

child from the frustration and disappointment of
making mistakes, it's important to realize that
making mistakes is part of an important learning
process in life. No matter how hard we might try to
always do things right, making mistakes is one thing
that is always part of life, regardless of whether we
are young or old. It is important to teach a child that
making a mistake isn't fatal, and that they can use
mistakes as a way of learning to find better ways to
be successful.
Self-Esteem
What is self-esteem? Self-esteem is how we value ourselves; it is how
we perceive our value to the world and how valuable we think we are
to others.

Self-confident
To be self-confident is to be secure in yourself and your
abilities. When you are giving a presentation or a speech,
it helps to be self-confident –- or at least to pretend that
you are.

The Importance of Self-confidence

The more confident you are the less disappointed you will
feel upon being rejected.

The Importance of Self Esteem

I think the importance of self esteem cannot be
underestimated. It affects your behaviour and thoughts. It
changes how you feel about and value yourself.
 Developmental Milestones
What is child development?
Child development refers to how a child becomes able to do more
complex things as they get older. Development is different than
growth. Growth only refers to the child getting bigger in size. If
you are concerned about your child’s development, please
see Developmental Delay on Your Child.
When we talk about normal development, we are talking about
developing skills like:
o Gross motor: using large groups of muscles to sit, stand, walk,
run, etc., keeping balance, and changing positions.
o Fine motor: using hands to be able to eat, draw, dress, play,
write, and do many other things.
o Language: speaking, using body language and gestures,
communicating, and understanding what others say.
o Cognitive: Thinking skills: including learning, understanding,
problem-solving, reasoning, and remembering.
o Social: Interacting with others, having relationships with family,
friends, and teachers, cooperating, and responding to the feelings
of others.