Building Social Skills: How Building Social Skills Helps Children Interact Confidently

In today’s fast-paced world, there’s a growing expectation for children to achieve high grades and excel academically.

While academic success is important, it’s just one piece of the puzzle. More than ever, children also need strong social and emotional skills to thrive. Aside from pursuing an impressive IQ (Intelligence Quotient) status, it is equally important to have skills to connect with others and adapt in this world.

Yes, building up one’s Emotional Quotient (EQ) and Social Quotient (SQ) is just as crucial in helping them connect with others, adapt to challenges, and navigate life with confidence.

However, many children today struggle with social skills due to various factors – an arising concern on children’s social skills development. Limited opportunities for interaction, increased screen time, or deeper underlying challenges.

As parents, nurturing both academic excellence and emotional intelligence will help set the foundation for a well-rounded, resilient, and socially confident child.

Cognitive and Social Development for Children: IQ + EQ + SQ

Developing strong social skills is essential for children as they navigate friendships, school, and various social settings. Social skills training programmes provide structured approaches to enhance children’s abilities to communicate effectively, build relationships, and manage emotions. In Singapore, these programmes play a crucial role in equipping children with the tools they need to thrive socially.

Understanding Social Skills Training

Social skills training focuses on teaching children how to navigate social interactions with confidence and empathy. These programmes are designed to improve various aspects of social competence, including emotional understanding, communication skills, and teamwork.

Bridging the Gap provides a supportive environment where children can learn and practice these skills under the guidance of trained therapists and educators.

Tips and Activities from Social Skills Training

1. Understanding and Expressing Emotions
   

   Help children understand their feelings by using tools like emotion cards or posters with facial expressions. Encourage them to express emotions through drawing, storytelling, or journaling to develop emotional awareness.

   This lays foundations to understand themselves better and foster skills to regulate emotions when necessary.
   

2. Learning Conversational Skills
   

   Role-play scenarios where children practice initiating conversations, taking turns speaking, and listening actively. Use prompts such as “Start with a greeting”, “Ask about someone’s day” or “Share about your favourite toy” to encourage two-way conversation at home.
   

3. Building Empathy through Role-Playing
   

   Engage children in role-playing exercises where they take on different perspectives and scenarios. This helps them understand others’ feelings and perspectives, promoting empathy and understanding in social interactions.

   In turn, this helps children pick up social cues that they observe from people around them and develop appropriate responses to varied situations. Practise patience and model the appropriate responses for children to mirror.
   

4. Non-Verbal Communication
   

   Teach children about the importance of body language, eye contact, and active listening in communication. Play games like “Mirror Game” where they mimic each other’s gestures to practice non-verbal cues.
   

5. Teamwork and Group Activities
   

   Arrange activities that require teamwork, such as building Lego blocks or completing art projects together.

   Emphasise cooperation, sharing responsibilities, and respecting others’ ideas to enhance collaborative skills.
   

6. Creating a Supportive Environment
   

   This is a setting where we can tell the children “It’s Okay!”. Assure children that social skills training and activities are a safe space where mistakes are part of learning.

   Try to involve parents in activities and provide feedback on progress to generalise the skills practiced in sessions.
   

Social skills training programmes in Singapore are instrumental in equipping children with the necessary tools to navigate social interactions confidently and effectively. By focusing on emotional understanding, communication techniques, empathy building, and teamwork, these programmes foster holistic development and prepare children for success in various social contexts.

As educators, therapists, and parents collaborate to support children’s growth, they contribute to creating a supportive environment where every child can thrive socially and emotionally.

In essence, investing in social skills development early on not only enhances children’s interpersonal skills but also lays a solid foundation for their overall well-being and future success.