Fostering Emotional And Social Growth In Children

Emotional and Social growth in children means- starting to understand and identify “self”, identifying one`s own feelings, and beginning to understand the dynamics of social interactions.

It is a very important aspect in a child`s life, as it forms the basis for healthy relationships for his/her entire life ahead. It also determines how well the child is able to manage as well as express their emotions.

As caregivers, we have the most pivotal role to play in a healthy emotional and social development of our children.

So, how can we make sure we enable this positive growth? To help you navigate the answer more easily, we have a few helpful tips for you.

1. Be gentle, loving and affectionate with your child. This way you can introduce a healthy and balanced model of love to your child.
2. Spend quality time with your child. Hug, cuddle, play, sing, read and converse with them. You can play simple social games with them, such as hide and seek and catch-catch. These simple games can sometimes teach much deeper social values, such as taking turns, trust (not opening the eyes till the other person goes and hides), and more.
3. Allow and support your child expressing his/her emotions. If they look visibly worried or tense, ask them if they are feeling ok, and how you can help to make them feel better. Also support them if they do something to calm their emotions. For example, very small kids sometimes suck on their thumb to self-sooth. Let them do it.
4. Encourage your child to try new things. You can buy them fun toys or books so that they can explore the world by themselves as well. You can also praise them if they try a new activity. Such as if they break into a dance move, or try to draw, show them kind words, so that they feel safe to express and venture more into constructive creativity.
5. Let your child mingle with other children their age. Sometimes it is hard to trust the outside world for the influence it may have on our kids, however it is a crucial and inescapable part of life. Help them explore their world and get to know the people in it. You can also be the role model for them for the way you would want them to learn to interact with others, by being kind and understanding with other adults and children yourself.
6. Don`t be shy to express yourself in front of them either. Let them see if you are happy or sad. This will give them a good practice for recognizing emotions in other people and also to become more empathetic towards others.
7. Establish daily routines with your child. This creates a sense of a predictable, nurturing environment for your child where they can feel confident and secure. Do this without turning it into a monotonous cycle. You can keep the schedule flexible and you can also introduce new activities every once in a while. The routine teaches the child that events can happen in an organized way.

We hope that this blog was helpful to you. To read more interesting and engaging content on parenting, please check out Parenting Nuggets!