Most children learn social intelligence when at school and while playing with their mates. Parents have also been in the front line trying as much to make their children learn social intelligence. However, things have changed. The emergence of the coronavirus pandemic has led to the disruption of traditional classes and playgroups, making it hard for children to develop social intelligence. Most children are now at home, isolated and sad, and parents have hard times trying to control their emotions and develop social skills.
How does one improve the social intelligence of their kids? There are many ways you can support your child to improve their social intelligence. Below are a few of them.
1. Teach the children empathy
Adults can understand how someone feels because they are connected and have grown social intelligence. The case is different with the kids since they don’t have such bonds until when trained. With no schools and other physical interaction, it’s essential to teach your kids about social intelligence while at home.
You can talk to your kids about different life situations and different ways to handle them at various stages of life. According to learning experts from www.positiveaction.net, you can also enroll your kids in online classes that provide social and emotional learning, which will help your kids boost their intelligence. This idea is essential, especially when parents are busy elsewhere or when the situation seems complicated. The process allows the kids to understand others, listen to them and be emotionally concerned about things surrounding them.
2. Practice role-playing
As a parent, it’s essential to pretend-play your kids regardless of their age and needs, as this helps to know their needs. There are many ways you can role play your kids to understand them better and learn what they are missing. One of the common ways is to let your child pretend to be the person they don’t like or have difficulty speaking or interacting with.
This idea will make you understand what the person looks like and how the kids approach this situation. You can also switch the roles and pretend to be the hard-to-be person while your child acts typically to see how they react in such situations. This play should include body language and facial expression to bring out the characters well. Through this, you will understand your kids better and allow them to rectify their areas with weaknesses.
3. Learn to ask questions
Sometimes children get nervous or lag in the conversations, which affects their future social interactions when left to go on. There are multiple ways you can encourage your kids to open up and talk about their challenges. One of the effective ways is by asking questions. You can ask your kids questions about the people they talk to, their struggles, and anything they always fail to express. One way of ensuring the questions are answered is by funnily asking them questions that avoid creating tension. Please encourage them to ask questions that can be answered by a short answer, either yes or no.
4. Follow their interests
Children tend to live and naturally react when they are doing something they are fully interested in. it’s essential to interact with them when doing their favorite activities, including playing the sport, practicing a musical instrument, or eating their favorite food. You will see them becoming easy to deal with, and you can quickly boost their social intelligence. If having many kids, you can start dealing with similar interests while going deeper into individual needs.
5. Know their limits
How much do you know your child’s limits? Many parents do not understand this, but your child might not have the same social skills as the neighbors. One may be introverted and happy, while the other is naturally social. Others love huge gatherings, while some find happiness when alone or in smaller groups. You have to understand their limits and treat each one the way they love it. Forcing them to fit in a particular group will demoralize their social intelligence and might worsen the situation.
6. Be a Role Model
Children follow and adopt what adults do, especially their parents. How you interact with your children or what you do under their watch is very important in growing their social intelligence. You can either break or make it on, depending on your behavior towards them. You have to practice being a useful role model to your children and always do what you want them to be.
Children adapt quickly to things they see their parents doing. To make your child grow better and have the best social intelligence, you have to start training them early. You should practice good deeds to them, enroll them in social learning classes, follow their interests, know their limits and be a good role model.