Social Development

It’s true. Children learn their social skills from all of the experiences that they have with you, with other adults, and by playing with other children. These real-life experiences show your child how people work.

The best social development happens when responsible adults model cooperation, generosity, empathy, and how to express feelings. When you gladly help someone else, show honesty, speak kindly, or say please and thank you, you are showing your child how you want him to act.

Empathy is the ability to imagine what another person is feeling. It’s very important to your child’s social development. You can help build empathy by talking about your own feelings when something makes you feel sad, happy, frustrated, or angry.

Encourage your child to talk about how he feels in certain situations, and encourage him to listen to other people’s feelings.

This will help him associate his own feelings with how someone else feels. You might say: “Remember how you felt when you fell down? That’s how Mary feels right now.”