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Let's be friends: 6 essential social skills for toddlers
Let's be friends
Learning through interactions with others
From beginning to
Conversation opens a whole world of social interaction for your toddler, and it is one of the first ways they communicate with you. Conversation is not simply chatter, though – it is learning: how to greet people, join a conversation effectively, listen, take turns verbally, and even how to end the conversation and say goodbye. It’s also about focusing on a topic, which helps with concentration. To help your toddler become a great conversationalist, simply talk with them as much as possible during the day. Really listen to what they are saying back and engage them with on topic-responsive questions: “Why did the cat do that?”, “What will happen if we do this?”.
Active play provides the opportunity to develop not only your toddler’s learning, language and confidence, but their social skills too. They learn how to: join in, share, compromise, observe, cope well with both winning and losing, and how to finish a game or activity. Play with your toddler every day, modelling good behaviour. Invite other toddlers round to play – around the age of two they may start to interact with each other. Keep an eye out for squabbles over sharing – these are perfect opportunities to teach your toddler the skills required to compromise and resolve conflict, and to be a team player.
Your child will start to learn the skill of ‘reading’ people and understanding their emotions. It’s important that they can read facial expressions, body language (including their own) and have an emotional vocabulary wider than just ‘happy’ and ‘sad’. Reading picture books aloud to your toddler, (with plenty of drama and expression) gives you the opportunity to discuss how the characters are feeling, and how you and your toddler feel about the characters. You can help them understand that other people’s feelings matter, and to respond to them in a kind and caring way. This starts to build empathy, an essential social skill for the years ahead.
We all disagree with people from time to time, but it’s how we resolve those disagreements that
Being able to make and keep friends is an important social skill, and it becomes more complex as we grow up. For toddlers, simply giving them time for supervised play with other children is a good foundation, whether on play dates or at a toddler group. You’ll be able to tell who your toddler gets on with and who they don’t, and you can talk to them about their friends and what they enjoy doing with them. Set a playtime limit so your toddler and their friends don’t become tired, stroppy and uncooperative. It’s better to finish
Respecting people, other creatures and things is an essential social skill. Toddlers learn by observing and copying, so if you demonstrate polite, respectful behaviour, the chances are they will be polite and respectful too (most of the time). Listen to your toddler and they will listen to you. Stroke the dog gently and so will your toddler. There will be disagreements and tantrums, but the important thing is not to overreact – simply point out, quietly but firmly, that the behaviour is unacceptable, and explain how to ask for what they want in a respectful manner. Encourage polite communication and praise each respectful behaviour: ‘Thank you for passing me your bowl and spoon’. Encouraging toddlers to be helpful around the house is a great way to learn and teach respect.
A balanced diet for busy, sociable toddlers with Aptamil Toddler Milk
Aptamil Toddler M
Aptamil Toddler Milk 1-2 years contains a unique blend of ingredients nutritionally tailored for your toddler, including iron for normal cognitive development as part of a varied, balanced diet. It comes in a range of formats from powder to ready-to-drink Toddler Milk, including a resealable one-litre pack and a handy 200ml carton for when you are out and about.
Aptamil Toddler Milk is Aptamil’s most advanced Toddler Milk formulation yet. Inspired by 40 years of breastmilk research, and nutritionally tailored for toddlers from one to two years, it contains specific nutrients to support your toddler, as part of a varied, balanced diet. Aptamil Toddler Milk contains iodine which contributes to normal growth of children, and iron to support normal cognitive development.
Source: The Huffington Post UK