Character Building from KidsDiscuss.com

Social Skills for Kids – 3 Ways to Believe in Your Friends

Believing in a friend is a powerful social skill. Teach your child to encourage other kids to try new and helpful activities. Start by encouraging your child. Use words that show your child you believe in her. Then suggest your child pass the encouragement on.

Here are 3 ways your child might encourage other kids:

1. Let's say your child's friend is having difficulty learning multiplication tables. When your child says, "You can learn this. Let's practice them together," her friend will enjoy their friendship even more because your daughter believed in her. One more thing, both kids will learn an important math skill for life.

2. Perhaps a school kid isn't very athletic. Even catching a throwing a ball is awkward. Your son says, "Let's practice catching and throwing after school when the other kids aren't around." As a result the school kid improves and joins the playground games at recess. Helping the boy throw and catch increased his athletic ability and gained your child a friend.

3. Imagine the neighbor girl received a new red bike for her birthday. She doesn't know how to ride it and has fallen several times. You hear your child say, "You can ride your bike. Let me help you." She practices what your child taught her. The girl and her parents will both appreciate your child for her encouragement and lessons. Now she rides her bike with your child to school every day.

Social Skills Conclusion:

Show your child you believe in her. Encourage her to believe in other kids too. When she believes in others she'll be making friends, practicing social skills, and building character.

What have you already taught your child about making friends? Please leave a suggestion, question, or comment at Jean Tracy's Email or click on Comments below.

Subscribe to Jean Tracy's Free Parenting Newsletter at www.KidsDiscuss.com and receive 80 fun activities to share with your kids.

Want more Social Skills to teach your kids? Pick up Jean's Social Skills Kit . You'll receive 50 social skills and easy directions on how to teach them. Raise happy social kids the simple way.

This Social Skill Works for Home and School

Friends will love your child with this social skill. So will their mothers and teachers. Teach your child to be helpful and pick up after himself. Discuss how helping friends and teachers clean up is a valuable social skill.

1. Let's say your child is visiting a neighbor friend. They decide to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Everyone knows peanut butter clings to countertops, bread boards, and knives. So does jelly. Can you imagine the neighbor mother telling you how much she appreciated your son's pitching in and cleaning the mess? Her son will like your child's help too and invite him back to play.

2. How would you feel if your child's teacher told you how your daughter cleans up her art messes first and then helps other kids clean up their's. The teacher will enjoy your child for being helpful and so will her classmates. You'll have good reason to feel proud of both your child and your parenting skills.

3. What would your spouse think after your child built a fort with his tools and put them neatly away when he was done? Would your partner mind if your child used the tools again?

Social skills include seeing what needs to be done and doing it. Whether it be cleaning up after a peanut butter sandwich, an art lesson, or building a fort, your child will be liked and appreciated. Let's face it, messy lazy kids are a drag. Help your child see the value of pitching in when there's work to do. You'll be building character and teaching social skills too.

What have you already taught your child about making friends? Please leave a suggestion, question, or comment at Jean Tracy's Email or click on Comments below.

Subscribe to Jean Tracy's Free Parenting Newsletter at www.KidsDiscuss.com and receive 80 fun activities to share with your kids.

Want more Social Skills to teach your kids? Pick up Jean's Social Skills Kit . You'll receive 50 social skills and easy directions on how to teach them. Raise happy social kids the simple way.

Self Esteem - 3 Ways to Build Social Skills at School

Social Skills build self esteem dramatically. A child who speaks with vocal variety, an expressive face, and tells stories, wins friends. Talk with your child about being expressive. Discuss and practice these three skills with your children today:

1. Vocal Variety means speaking soft and loud, fast and slow, high and low. When your child speaks with vocal variety, kids will listen. A voice with vocal variety is a joy to hear. A monotone voice bores kids and loses their attention. Praise your child's efforts at vocal variety.

2. An Expressive Face lights up when it speaks. When your child smiles and shows feelings with a variety of facial expressions, kids take notice. A dull expressionless face is often ignored. Tell your child how much you enjoy watching his expressive face when he talks.

3. Storytelling captures everyone's attention. Kids remember stories. Teddy Roosevelt was a sickly child. Yet kids gathered around his beside to hear his jungle stories. He fascinated them with his vocal variety and his expressive face. Your child can capture the attention of her classmates with storytelling too.

Why not practice using vocal variety, an expressive face, and storytelling when you talk. Then practice with your child how to spice up his social skills by role-playing. Next tell your child to practice with classmates and share the results with you.

What have you already taught your child about making friends? Please leave a suggestion, question, or comment at Jean Tracy's Email or click on Comments below.

Subscribe to Jean Tracy's Free Parenting Newsletter at www.KidsDiscuss.com and receive 80 fun activities to share with your kids.

Want more Social Skills to teach your kids? Pick up Jean's Social Skills Kit . You'll receive 50 social skills and easy directions on how to teach them. Raise happy social kids the simple way.

With warm wishes for your parenting success,

Jean Tracy, MSS

 

Parenting – 3 Social Skills for Making Friends at School

Perhaps you've seen your child feeling lonely and saying things like:

1. "I'm bored."
2. "There's nobody to play with."
3. "I don't know how to make friends."

Maybe you've heard your child brag.

Perhaps he was too self conscious and thought he had to act more important than he felt. I remember one little boy who said his daddy killed a bear with his bare hands in our neighborhood. Nobody believed him. We don't have bears around here. The kids laughed at him. Another girl said fell down on the ski slopes and twisted her head completely around. The kids made fun of her too. The point is your child doesn't have to exaggerate his importance to make friends.

Instead of exaggerating or bragging, teach him these 3 suggestions from my Social Skills Kit for Kids

First Social Skill - Ask Kids Questions.

Teach your child to ask the questions she think kids like to answer. Tell her, "This shows you're interested in them. Kids will love your attention." Let's say a boy brought the latest gadget from his McDonalds Happy Meal to Show and Tell. Tell your child to ask him questions like:

"How does that thing work?"

"How many gadgets do you have?"

"Do you want to make up a game with your gadget?"

Second Social Skill - Get Other Kids to Talk about Themselves.

Most people, including kids love to talk about themselves. Teach your child to encourage them. Tell him, "They'll be pleased you want to know about them." Imagine your child talking to a child from another country or state. Your child might say:

"What was Canada like?"

"Tell me about your old school?"

"How different are the kids here from your friends in Virginia?"

Third Social Skill - Talk about What Other Kids are Interested In.

Teach your child to observe the other child and find out her interests. If she's interested in sports your child could ask:

"What's your favorite sport?"

"Why do you like to play first base?"

"Do you want to ball?"

The trick is to get your child to focus on the other kid. Help your child see the value in being truly interested in others. Let him know this is the key to making friends. If you do, your child won't be so lonely or feel the need to exaggerate. He'll be laughing and playing with his friends instead.

 

Does your child have trouble making friends? Let me know by contacting me at Jean Tracy's Email or click the comment link below and leave your comment.

Check out my Social Skills Kit for Kids. You'll find 50 fun social skills complete with directions to teach your kids.

Become an exceptional parent. Subscribe to my Free Parenting Newsletter and receive 80 free fun activities to share with your kids at:

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 With warm wishes for your parenting success,

Jean

Jean Tracy, MSS

Help Your Children Can Make Friends at School with These 3 Social Skills

Most children want tons of friends. School is a great place for developing friendships. Would you like to teach your children social skills? Inside you'll find 3 ways to help your kids make friends.

3 Parenting Tips to Tell Your Children:

1. Smile. Kids like smiling faces. Your smiling face tells them you're friendly. Nobody likes being rejected. Everybody likes being accepted. Put a smile on your face. It invites kids to know you. Your smile relaxes you too.

   Practical Social Skill # 1 - Let's say your daughter sees a new girl at school standing alone at recess. Suggest that your daughter say "Hi!" and smile at the new girl. Ask her if she wants to play. That girl will always remember your daughter's friendliness and be grateful. What an easy way to make a friend!

2. Speak Using Gestures. Use words and gestures to show kids what you mean. That means describing your words with natural movements of your face, hands, and arms. Words with gestures make you more interesting. Children will like and understand what you're saying.

   Practical Social Skill #2 - Pretend your son saw a cartoon on TV that most children enjoy. Teach him how to show kids what he saw with his facial expression, his hands, and his arms. Suggest he practice in front of the mirror. Tell him to use his words with gestures the next time he talks to kids.

3. Give Compliments. Praise children for something they did. Everybody likes praise. Be sincere and specific in how you compliment others.

   Practical Social Skill # 3 - Since all people enjoy sincere praise, give your daughter a compliment. For example, tell her, "The way you scratch your cat's ears, show how much your love him." A little later ask her how she felt when you gave her that compliment. Then tell her, "Other people like praise too. Why not see how many sincere compliments you can give children at school today. Come home and tell me what you noticed."

Social Skills and Making Friends Summary:

Your children might hang back. They might be afraid to be friendly. They might feel lonely. They might even complain, "Nobody likes me." Why not teach them the social skills they need. If you do, they'll put a smile on their faces, be expressive when they talk, and give compliments too. Why not promote their happiness by teaching them how to make friends?

What have you already taught your child about making friends? Please leave a suggestion, question, or comment at Jean Tracy's Email or click on Comments below.

Subscribe to Jean Tracy's Free Parenting Newsletter at www.KidsDiscuss.com and receive 80 fun activities to share with your kids.

Want more Social Skills to teach your kids? Pick up Jean's Social Skills Kit . You'll receive 50 social skills and easy directions on how to teach them. Raise happy social kids the simple way.