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Why is Socialising Important for Children?
Socialising is one of the most essential skills that children must learn to get along with others. While parents focus more on academic skills such as physics/mathematics and language and on physical growth, social skills are equally vital for children to learn. Their social interactions with friends, family, and teachers significantly affect every aspect of their lives. Here, we will look into why socialisation is crucial for children.
1. Communication skill
As children go through different stages of life, such as preschool, school, and engaging in sports, they learn to communicate with others. Socialising enables students to communicate with people outside their families, which helps them learn how to listen to and understand others. Also, note that communication involves both nonverbal and verbal communication. Nonverbal communication involves understanding things, such as whether someone is interested in talking, by analyzing their hand gestures, eye movements, etc. So, if your children are not chatty like others, they may be good at observing nonverbal cues such as hand movements, etc.
2. Confidence and Independence
Social interaction teaches students skills such as cooperation, communication and negotiation, which help them build positive relationships with others. These positive relationships make children feel worthy, which boosts their confidence. Similarly, when they feel valued and accepted by their peers, they feel confident in their abilities and decisions, which fosters autonomy and independence in them. Confidence and independence are particularly essential for the initial days in school, because school can be a bit scary for the children. Confidence and resilience will also help them participate in healthy risk-taking activities, like swimming or talking to a new student.
3. Sharing
Children are egocentric, especially those who are the first or only child because their parent's whole world revolves around them. They are accustomed to getting what they need and perceive themselves as the centre of the universe. This egocentrism makes their life difficult in many ways. They struggle to understand other perspectives and feelings and accept special treatment from others. All these make it hard for them to form meaningful and long-term relationships with others. Social interactions encourage them to share their resources with others and help them understand other feelings. Social interactions also help them make friends, which we will discuss later.
4. Empathy
Socialising not only helps children learn about different ideas and concepts, but empathy, too. Empathy is a vital skill that enables children to cultivate kindness and empower them to express their compassion towards others. We all know children learn through observation, and social interaction gives them ample opportunities to learn from the behaviours of others. When they witness their peers, caregivers, teachers and parents showing kindness and compassion towards others, they understand the importance of being empathetic and trying to emulate their behaviours. You can help them become more empathetic by involving them in role-playing scenarios and helping them understand others' perspectives. We at VIPS foster a culture of compassion in the school by providing children with opportunities to engage in community service work.
5. Friendship
Lifelong friendships are developed after meaningful social interactions. And we all know how important friends are in anyone's life, especially children’s. Kids learn new words from their friends, learn about different ways of thinking from their friends and, of course, create the most memorable memories. Friends are a network on which one can rely for help and support during difficult times, such as illness and personal struggles. Also, children get excited about a thing when their friends are involved in it, and it can be anything from playing games to exploring new hobbies.
6. Adaptability and flexibility
Social skills help children learn how to navigate diverse social environments with ease. They will easily understand the social cues and adjust their communication style accordingly, which helps them communicate confidently with people from different backgrounds. Children must be adaptable and flexible to thrive in this rapidly changing world. These skills will help them connect with diverse individuals and confidently adjust to unfamiliar settings.
The bottom line
At last, socialising makes children skilled, strong, and caring individuals, which makes them irresistible to what life throws at them in different phases of life. So, let them talk with peers, play with friends and engage with communities. Through these interactions, they will learn skills, such as communication skills and more, which will help them throughout their life.
