Encourage Social Skills In Children: Danny The Dragon Author Offers Tips

By Author: Red Wiseman
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Tina Turbin (http://TinaTurbin.com), author of the celebrated children's book, Danny the Dragon Meets Jimmy (http://DannyTheDragon.com), is not only cherished for her contribution to children's literature, but also for her work in championing important issues to improve the lives of children, particularly through actively advocating parental involvement in children's lives. One of the ways she recommends to parents how to increase involvement is by supporting your child's education and helping him achieve academic success. "An important part of this, which parents don't often think about," Tina says, "is by teaching your kids the social skills they'll need to succeed in school."

Tina's interest and involvement in issues such as family, women, and children in society blossomed when she married and became a mother at the age of twenty-one. Since then, she has demonstrated her dedication to bringing awareness to these issues in her many endeavors as a humanitarian, researcher, and children's author. Here she offers some tips for parents on how they can send their child to school with the social skills they need to successfully ...
... interact with teachers and other students.

First, it's important to teach your child to ask for what he needs. How can he get help unless he's able to admit he doesn't understand something? A great way to instill this in your child is to practice it at home. Tell him to ask you about any words he doesn't understand when he hears them. In fact, you can tell him that during reading time, you're going to use some new words he probably doesn't understand and tell him that whenever he hears one, he should politely ask you what the word means. After he practices this, tell him teachers also like to know when their students don't know words.

One of the most important things you can teach your child is manners. Teachers may attempt to teach students politeness and social skills, but if it's not being practiced in the home, the child will not successfully absorb these lessons. Your child should be taught when to say, "please," "thank you," and "excuse me." Have him practice sharing things, taking turns, and waiting his turn in line. Make sure to be respectful and polite yourself in both your own interactions with others as well as with your child, especially when you're correcting your child's social manners. Also, refrain from using foul language in front of the children or avoid TV shows or movies, or even certain friends and neighbors, who indirectly or directly influence your child to act out. Dinnertime is a great time to practice using manners. Your child will enjoy seeing the whole family use the same words and phrases he's taught to use.

Point out good examples of behavior to your child when you see it. If you're watching a movie or out in public, you can say to your child something such as, "Did you see how the man held open the door for the lady? He was being a gentleman." Similarly, when your child says "please" and "thank you" appropriately, tell him that he did a great job. You'll find that when you acknowledge his successes in interacting with others, he'll continue to repeat the praised behavior in the future.

Finally, rehearse at home anything your child may feel awkward saying or doing with other people. For instance, your child may have a hard time asking others if he can play with them. You and one of his siblings can pretend to be other kids at school playing a game, and he'll practice approaching and asking if he can play, too. He may also have problems participating in class because he gets nervous. You can pretend you're the teacher and have him sit down and raise his hand when he knows an answer. When he tells you the answer, make sure to give him lots of praise for getting it right. In such a way, you'll be able to get your child interacting with others with ease.

Success in school isn't only determined by academic skills and knowledge. "Parents need to establish the foundation of strong social skills so their children can interact with his teachers and classmates at school," Tina says. By following the helpful tips above in the time you spend with your child, you'll notice an improvement in your child's education experience in no time as they become more comfortable in their learning environment and better equipped to flourish in it.

For more information on Tina Turbin, visit http://TinaTurbin.com.
For more information on Danny the Dragon http://DannyTheDragon.com.
About Author:
Red Wiseman is an avid and intelligent writer and researcher in the Humanities, Arts and Sciences. Wiseman is always on a quest to expand his horizons and those of others via his written and spoken words.