In today’s blog, I am writing about the ways to help your child develop social and emotional competence so that they can learn and compete with the world for their survival.
What is Social and Emotional Competency?
Successfully controlling emotional arousal and behaving constructively in social situations are two aspects of social and emotional competence. It is commonly assumed to include:
- Emotion awareness, such as being aware of one’s own and others’ emotions, is an example of emotion knowledge.
- Emotional control (especially knowing how to calm down in times of heightened emotion) and proper emotional expression are important skills to have.
- Perspective-taking, empathy, and social problem-solving are examples of social skills.
- Problem-solving Self-management and making responsible decisions
Ways to Help Your Child Develop Social and Emotional Competence
Early infancy is a time of immense possibility as well as great peril. Early childhood experiences provide the foundation for future health, happiness, and learning. We tend to place a greater emphasis on improving our child’s academic abilities, assuming that social and emotional skills would emerge organically.
A growing corpus of research has shown a substantial relationship between young children’s social-emotional competence and their growth in other areas like cognitive development, language abilities, mental health, and school achievement in recent years. Children who do not have a minimum degree of social and emotional competence by the age of six are more likely to struggle in adult relationships.
The capacity to engage with people, manage one’s own emotions and conduct, solve issues, and communicate effectively is referred to as social and emotional competence.
The ideal period to improve social and emotional competency is between the ages of 6 months and two years.
Parents and caregivers can prepare young children to face life’s obstacles in the following ways:
- Encourage children to form intimate social bonds with consistent, kind, and attentive adults, especially in the months after their first birthday.
- Create an environment where children feel free to express both good and negative feelings. Separate emotions from actions while responding to them (e.g., “It’s alright to feel furious, but we don’t strike people when we’re upset.”)
- Give children assistance when they need it rather than pressuring them too fast, ignoring them, or seeing them as a burden to be dealt with swiftly. Allow children to solve problems (for example, “What do you think you should do if another kid steals your toy/pushes you?”).
- Keep a watchful eye on little toddlers, but don’t hover so much that they stop learning attention-seeking abilities.
- Make contact with them. They will not take up language via watching TV, talking on the phone, or listening in on conversations. They require adult involvement.
- Instead of attempting to divert children’s attention to anything else, talk to them about whatever they’re interested in right now and play with them on their level.
- Create a learning-friendly environment. Books, fascinating (but not necessarily costly) things, and a space to play are all included. Allow them to explore in a physical sense.
- Set explicit expectations and boundaries (for example, “No one in our family hurts one other.”) Punishment should be used sparingly. Instead, take a break, revoke rights, and seek out opportunities for positive reinforcement.
Children who have had such experiences may detect their own and others’ emotions, take on the perspective of others, and utilize their developing cognitive skills to consider suitable and improper behaviors. Such abilities are one means of preparing our children to confront life’s problems in today’s environment of increased uncertainty and violence.
