Table of Contents
Introduction
We live in a society where socializing with one another holds paramount significance. An individual needs friends, relatives, family, and peer groups to interact with. Socialization to a human being is like oxygen for survival. What do you think is the importance of developing social skills? Humans need to socialize with one another to sharpen their memory power, improve their intellectual wellbeing as well as ward off all feelings of loneliness.
The right way to socialize
Socialization isn’t all about interacting with one another. Moreover, it is the right way of doing it. Greeting others, initiating a conversation, conversing without offending others, being a good listener, empathizing, accepting others, giving and accepting compliments, and learning how to keep the conversation going without much awkwardness is all a part of good socialization.
1. Teach them to be expressive
Encouraging your kids to express their emotions is a significant step towards developing social skills. To ensure the same, they must be well aware of the varied emotions they feel. The right way to communicate these emotions is by expressing them when you communicate with your child.
Laugh out loud when you are happy and cry when you are sad. Similarly show disappointment, nervousness, joy, and excitement when you feel so. Showing placards of various smileys is another way of teaching them the different emotions. In short, encourage them to express rather than repress them. This way, children will improve their social skills.
2. Eye-contact
Maintaining eye contact while conversing with someone is an important etiquette. Assume that you are talking to someone about something very important. What if the person avoids eye contact and keeps looking somewhere else while listening? You would feel offended.
Even if the person would have been listening, this gesture would have created a bad impression on you about that particular person. Maintaining eye contact with someone while talking to them makes you a better listener as well as enhances your confidence to communicate your thoughts effectively.
Therefore, train your children right from a young age, the basic etiquettes an individual must practice while socializing with a person or a group of people.
3. Encourage them to ask questions
Initiating a conversation is easier compared to the difficulty in prolonging it. One may feel awkward upon thinking about what to say next. This indicates poor communication and social skills of a person. Parent must encourage their children to ask questions regarding anything they are curious about. This way, they will learn to become adults who can socialize well by sustaining a conversation.
4. Teach them to be a good listener
Improving social skills is all about developing effective communication strategies. One of those strategies includes the habit of listening well. Communication isn’t a one-way process. It encompasses both encoding and decoding the message conveyed.
This refers to the process of speaking and listening concerning a conversation. If an individual denies listening well, the speaker might lose interest in continuing the conversation further. Moreover, without listening to what the other person has to contribute, how will one respond effectively. All these factors state the reason why listening is important to improve social skills.
5. Be empathetic
Teach your children what it is like to put themselves in other’s shoes. Learning to think from other’s points of view will facilitate the process of communication. Understanding what others are going through will help a person to craft their messages and thoughts accordingly.
Teach your children to help others when they are in need, or to console others when they are emotionally down. They must also be taught to be happy for other’s success and to cheer up others if they encounter a failure. These gestures are effective tips to build and nurture a relationship.
Conclusion
The ability to express your thoughts most engagingly is regarded as a well-appreciated social skill. In the corporate world or any organization, effective communication and socialization skills are used as a parameter to choose the most appropriate candidate for a job vacancy.
When living in a competitive world where one’s social skills decide the future of your achievements and accomplishments, the need to improve social skills is obvious without much explanation. Therefore, right from a young age, parents must incorporate various possible ways to enrich a child’s social skills.
Read Next – https://brainyline.com/how-to-foster-creative-thinking-in-your-child/
