Parents can nurture child social development long before children are ready to make friends. Your toddler parenting choices can help teach social skills from the cradle on.
Peers help to shape children's attitudes and behavior, but parents lay the groundwork for child social development. Experts say that it is the early parents' relationships that lay the foundation on which later friendships are built.
Family Ideas for Encouraging Child Social Development
- Show consideration for your child's feelings, desires and needs.
- Show affection.
- Express an interest in her daily toddler activities. Talk, read and notice what interests her.
- Listen carefully when she tries to communicate. Learn to read the signals she sends at all stages of toddler speech development, even before she can speak.
- Show pride when she accomplishes something new.
- Provide encouragement and support when you witness stress in children.
- When making rules and administering toddler discipline, explain why you've made certain decisions.
Source: "New Understandings of How Children Grow and Learn," EC-PEN listserv.