When it comes to small, medium, or large sections for their children, many parents worry about their success and their results. How many new words do they know? How much do they know how to count? Do their reading skills improve? All of these questions, and many more, reflect a desire by parents to give their children the best. Yet, while their results in kindergarten are important, their social skills are far more important to their success in adulthood.
Good social skills in young children predict their success in adulthood
According to a 2015 study in the American Journal of Public Health, children in kindergarten with the best social skills were most likely to succeed in life when they reached adulthood. Good social and emotional skills in preschool children predicted greater success in a variety of areas such as education, employment and mental health, and a lower propensity for crime and substance abuse. .
For parents of young children: do not focus on their preschool outcomes, but encourage them to play and interact more with other children. To give your children the best chance of success later in life, make sure they develop the following skills.
Encourage your children to improve these three social skills
Play with other children
The game is the activity par excellence that allows a child to grow well and develop many skills. It is by playing with other children that he experiences the world and learns to share, negotiate and solve problems.
This does not mean, however, that the activities in which he participates in class and what he learns are not important; it just means that, as a parent, you need to ensure that your child has plenty of time to play freely with friends and peers.
Solve problems
As parents, we have a natural tendency to respond to conflict, interpose and give direction to our children. While our intervention may be essential in some cases, it is necessary that we give them the opportunity to resolve their differences on their own. If we do not let them manage their arguments with each other, how will they learn to do it?
And if it’s your child who comes to you to complain about a problem with his siblings or his friends, have a good discussion with him. Ask him questions about what’s going on and encourage him to provide solutions himself. Ask questions such as “what do you think you can do to fix this? “.
Show your child, on the other hand, that being wrong and failing is not a problem, but that you have to keep trying in different ways until you get the result you want. Also, consider how things work and if the solution he has proposed is successful.
To be useful to others
Be attentive to your child’s behavior. To encourage him, compliment him every time he behaves altruistically and generously.
Give him the opportunity to be useful to his family by offering to help his brothers and sisters, you or your spouse, and always be lavish in compliments and congratulations when he acts well.
Encourage him to be grateful to others, to thank them and to do kind gestures to serve and please them.
