Why Social and Emotional Development is Important in Early Years?
“A child’s play is not simply a reproduction of what he has experienced, but a creative reworking of the impressions he has acquired”
–Vygotsky
Humans are social beings and their happy and peaceful life is to a larger extent dependent upon the environment they reside in and work; and their relationship with the people around them. Emotional wellbeing is very much connected to the social bonding and situation of the person. The scale of emotional development depends upon the upbringing of a child and the social connectivity and social well being he had.
In making friends, interacting with people in society as large and in particular with the people at work and school to dealing with different circumstances be it official or other, social development has an incredible role. Those who have strong social skills will find it easy to mingle with people and build bonds. Healthy social bonds and interacting ability makes life pleasant and much smoother. Social skills and bonding have a strong impact on the emotional and even physical health and well being of humans. They reduce stress and maintain happiness. Thus social and emotional development is very much important in adult life as they are more exposed to stress and hardships and that needs to be taken care of from the very young age. Because as said things that get imprinted on young minds don’t easily fade away and the skills acquired at the early childhood stays till the person’s last.
Life throws you a lot of difficult situations which you find very difficult to deal with. You might have circumstances where people harass you, abuse you physically or mentally, you might have to face big and small failures, you might have disappointments and rejections, you might feel less competent and might be always compared with a more competent player. Bouncing back in such situations and facing your issues require certain social skills which do not sprout in you all of a sudden but that’s something that you have to inculcate in you gradually from early childhood. This is the aim behind making children do group activities and play in peers at preschools. Things that are taught and trained at preschools are not just to make kids adaptive to the next grade but to prep them for life. To draw boundaries, to learn how to react to others’ actions, how to solve conflicts amicably, how to behave in peers etc are taught at preschools.
Social responsibilities like behaving properly at public places and following respective rules and regulations at the specific places and controlling oneself when in provoking situations etc are gradually attained from what they are trained from their young age as part of their social and emotional development. To manage one’s feelings, emotions and impulses is very important and this is acquired by an individual as part of social and emotional development.
Four types of social activities are
- Altruism
- Creativity
- Game
- Motion
Parents and teachers must try to enrich the social skills and emotional intelligence through encouraging kids to indulge in various social activities and games.
Social development is possible through strategies which make use of characteristics like positive orientation, resiliency and intellect which helps in bonding. Even the communities and elders can help nurture the kids with the same.
It is proven through studies that social competence helps kids’ more than academic competence in accomplishing more in life. Also, to be better adapted to different situations and to accept change, diversity and novel methods and features of learning, social competence is more important and hence more socially competent children have an edge over other kids in this.
Now let’s see how parents and teachers can promote social and emotional development in kids:
1. First thing you can do and have to do is love your child and make your child feel your love and affection and understand how much he/she means to you.
2. It’s equally important to reveal your feelings to them like love, anger, sorrow etc. As much as you love them, that much you are also responsible to correct them if they do wrong and encourage them if they do well. Your portrayal of feelings speaks louder to them than your words.
3. Teachers and parents must ensure that you are approachable for kids. You should make them comfortable to express their emotions be it positive or negative.
4. Kids find it difficult very often to express their feelings through words. But they have to learn it and teachers and parents should help them by helping with saying it by you giving them words to fill in and asking what they want to say when they try to explain and find it difficult.
5. When kids express their emotions, parents and teachers must acknowledge it and try to advice them strategies to face it.
6. Encourage your kids to try to understand how others feel. This is very important as part of social development. If your child acquires this ability and learns to empathize with people, he becomes a good human.
7. Try to build healthy social and emotional skills through activities, games, moral stories and through conversations. A friendly teacher and parent can definitely hold conversation with a kid and such conversations will be heard and obeyed kids generally.
8. Encourage the kids to try new things, learn new things and acquire new skills.
9. Parents can make kids follow a daily routine at home and teachers can design effective time slots for lessons, games and social activities and skill building at preschools.
10. Preschools offer kids chance to play and interact with kids of their age which develop their social interactive skills and also gives them opportunity to learn to resolve conflicts peacefully in peers. Parents should let kids play with kids of their age in their neighbourhood but check their activities and keep an eye on them so as not to give a chance for them to fall in to traps and bad peer groups.
11. Nurturing a home environment in preschools will help kids in social well being and emotional stability and development.
Peace, happiness, sense of belongingness, enjoyment and stimulation are the inherent purpose of social activities and attaining these is the intention behind social and emotional development. Academic excellence, financial independence etc does matters much in life but not as much as social and emotional wellbeing. Yes emotional quotient matters much. Ultimately what every human seek is peace and joy. So, try to inculcate social skills and ensure your child’s emotional development. Let your child be a happy human than a depressed scholar.
See Also: Importance of Motor Development in Early Years
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