How to help children gain social skills during online schooling

Communication and social skills are an important part of the child’s personal development. These skills are needed to maintain their social life, but we all are indoors and looking at a screen with names and no faces. It is really hard for kids to maintain or form any relationship. Building relationships that are outside of their comfort zone can aid in boosting their academic life. Therefore, it is your duty as a parent to nurture these skills and help your child develop them. It takes a lot of effort, practice and time to be emotionally successful.

There are certain things that can help boost the social skills of your child. Here's some help if you have a child currently navigating online learning and schooling:

Your children are more likely to talk to someone if they have a common interest. Encourage them to engage in conversations when they are doing things that interest them. This will create a habit to talk to the person in front of them when they are playing games and activities.

Encourage them to maintain eye contact when they are talking to someone. This will boost their confidence and they will be able to talk effortlessly when they are talking to people outside of their comfort zone.

Teach your child about emotions and how to identify them. This will help in increasing their emotional power and is an effective tool in communication. Reading emotions can help them differentiate between emotions and understand the person better, so they can put their point across in an effective manner.

Your child is more likely to learn while observing than a lecture. If you can put your child in a communicative environment, where everybody is communicating their emotions and putting their point across in an effective manner, they will learn from it and develop the skills required.

Good social skills do not only include talking, it also includes cooperating with others and sharing things with them. You can encourage good social skills if you teach your child how to share and cooperate. This will help them in the long run in building relationships and practising good social skills.

It is important for a child to speak, but it is equally important for them to listen to the other person. Listening is an integral part of social skills, therefore you should teach your child the importance of listening. Teach them that the other person will only listen to them if they feel that they are being heard.

It is very important for your child to understand the concept of personal space. Everybody needs their personal space, and it is important that your child gives them space when required. Some kids are close talkers and tend to ignore these boundaries, it can lead to people ignoring them entirely. This can affect your child’s mental health. Therefore, it is important to teach them the importance of personal space and how to respect them.

At the end of the day, it all depends on how well you practice good social skills in front of them. You should do your best to teach them the basics and they will learn the rest from their own experiences and mistakes.