If You’re Trying To Help Your Child Improve Their Social And Emotional Skills, Here Are A Couple Learning Activities You Can Do With Them
With all the stressors that kids growing up in this day and age must face, it’s more essential than ever that parents help their children deal with emotions in a healthy manner.
Parents play a tremendous role in their children’s social and emotional development. It can be difficult to figure out how best to help your child in this area, especially since the social scene for kids has become vastly different over the past few years.
For one, there was the COVID pandemic, which kept everyone indoors and interrupted schooling. School is a large part of the everyday life of a kid.
It’s where they spend a considerable chunk of their days interacting with their peers. Take that away, and much of their opportunity for social interaction is gone.
And then, there’s social media, which changes how people communicate nowadays even more. Increasingly younger kids have made their way onto certain platforms and are accustomed to text messaging rather than chatting face-to-face.
So a combination of both occurrences can make it challenging for your child to develop their social and emotional skills.
These skills are just as important as any others. Being able to manage emotions, control impulses, and communicate effectively will have a positive effect on your child’s overall well-being and future relationships.
If you are trying to help your child improve their social and emotional skills, here are some ways to integrate social and emotional learning activities throughout the day.
One activity you can do with your child is to create a mood chart. Mood charts are great for preschool-aged kids. They give your child visual representations of feelings and emotions.
pololia – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual child
You can draw or print out faces displaying various moods and practice making these expressions with your child in the mirror. Hang the mood chart somewhere that’s easily accessible for your child so they can quickly refer to it when words won’t do the trick.
Next, make sure you always slot in playtime during the day. Play is crucial for social and emotional development. It’s how children can release their anxieties and work through their emotions. Act out a scene with your child of their choosing, and don’t be afraid to play with dolls.
As children get older, the way they play will become more elaborate. Art is also an excellent activity to engage in, no matter how young or old your kids are. Have your child paint, draw, or write out a story that captures how they’re feeling.
Furthermore, participating in simple mindfulness activities, such as deep breathing and yoga, can help kids get in tune with their emotions. Practice these activities together as a family. Your child can continue doing this even when they grow into an adult.
By the time your kid reaches middle and high school, they should be doing all these activities, with the addition of journaling.
Setting time aside to jot down your feelings, whether every day or once a week, can help with emotional regulation, especially since your child probably has a lot more going on in their life now that they’re a teenager.
And here’s one last tip for all parents that can be utilized regardless of your children’s ages. Before trying to swoop in and handle your child’s emotions, make sure you regulate yourself first.
When you’re feeling overwhelmed, take a step back. It’s better to handle situations from a place of calm, and it models an example of good behavior for your child to mimic.
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