Social skills are one of the important components in our lives. We use them to nourish our relationship at home, in school and in our community. Developing your social skills is like mastering your academic performance too. School is a great venue wherein you can learn how to get along with others, develop friendships, and establish a positive out-look. Children who are not able to develop their social skills experience rejection from classmates and opt to avoid social situations. Here are several types of social skills that must be mastered for a child to be socially skillful.
Greet people you meet. This is the first step in developing relationships with your peers, classmates or schoolmates. Saying “Hi” and “How are you?” are simple ways of greeting of others. You should also show a friendly facial expression and tone of voice so the other person would respond to you.
Initiate conversation. After greeting the other person, you usually start conversing with him or her. In order to have a good conversation, you should find a way on how to initiate it. You may ask a question about him or her. You may also ask about a recent movie or sports. You should take turns in talking so you will maintain an interesting conversation. Avoid talking too much about yourself for this can make your friend bored.
Listen attentively. The other person will find it nice to talk to you if you listen attentively. You must also understand what he or he is talking about. Children, who tend to talk most of the time and never give an opportunity for others to convey their feelings, will find it hard to gain friends. The other person will become tired of listening and eventually will walk away. An effective communication requires taking turns and reciprocity. If you don’t show interest in what the other person is saying, then he or she would not be interested in what you are talking about too.
Empathize. Empathizing means you are able to feel what your friend also feels. You should be happy for what your friend has accomplished. If your friend is doing well in Math and he or she shared it with you, then you should be happy wholeheartedly. It is not good to be envious because each one of you has your own strengths. When your friend is sad because of a certain problem, then you should listen to him or her. You should accompany him or her and give her words that can cheer your friend up. You can also invite him or her for a walk or go to the mall so you would have a good time together.
Preview what you are going to say. It is very important that you think first before you speak. You must think what effect your words and actions can give your listener. If you think that those words can give a negative impact, then you can adjust them so it won’t hurt or embarrass the other person. This would avoid any conflict or misunderstanding to happen. Always remember that you should be sensitive to others’ reactions. You should not only think of yourself but also you should consider the feelings of others.
Learn to apologize. No one is perfect so it is normal to make mistakes along the way. A person with good social skills is confident and humble enough to admit his or her mistakes. Mistakes are not signs of weaknesses but rather it is a way to learn from the experience. Apologizing is the quickest way to patch up any problem in a relationship with your family, friends and fellow children.
School is a great venue for learning and fun. So, learn these social skills and you will learn to enjoy the company of your friends in school!