Tips to Help Nurture your Child’s Social-Emotional Development

Parenting is the hardest job on the planet. You work 24/7, you don’t get to take days off, and you don’t retire, ever. Although you don’t get a gold watch for a job well done, you end up with a sense of pride and accomplishment knowing that you raised a smart, kind, compassionate and happy person who easily forms relationships with others, communicates, learns, face challenges, and experiences emotions. However, in order to raise children who will grow up to be well-balanced adult, you need to start nurturing your kid’s social and emotional development from the moment it is born. Here are several Tips to Help Nurture your Child’s Social-Emotional Development.

Be nurturing

It is so easy to make funny faces, weird sounds, and do anything it takes to get your baby to smile. However, being affectionate and nurturing is not that easy when your little one has been crying for hours or is throwing a tantrum in the middle of the supermarket. Luckily, most parents find the love and strength in them to nurture their little one even during those hard times. We all know that touching, rocking, singing or talking to a baby is a completely normal way to comfort a distressed child, but those interactions actually do so much more. They provide the stimulation a growing brain needs and send messages to the baby that it is special and loved. When a child feels loved, it learns to love others as well.

Teach your kid to resolve conflict in a healthy way

Kids between the ages of one and three are developing an awareness of “self”, so for toddlers, sharing can be especially hard. These children know what they want and when they want it, but they are still not able to understand another person’s feelings. At this age, self-control is also just beginning to develop so toddlers understand that they shouldn’t take something from others, but still cannot control their impulses. Help your child name its feelings and practice ways it can control its impulses. In the time it will be able to resolve conflicts on its own.

Nurture your kid’s curiosity

What is curiosity but a desire to learn, explore and discover? Kids are born with a drive to understand how the world works so you don’t need to push your child to be curious, just encourage its natural interests. Toddlers love to explore the environment they are in, so create a space where your kid can have access to age-appropriate brain-stimulating games and toys and where it can explore independently without your help. Kids learn a lot more through activities that capture their attention to figure out what is capturing your little one’s interest and create a safe and acceptable way for it to explore.

Your child listens so be careful what you say

Kids who feel connected with their parents, family members and friends are far more motivated to learn, cooperate, and be loving than kids who don’t feel cared about or valued. However, as a parent, you need to be careful about the ways you talk about your little one since labels can do a lot of damage. Keep in mind that children assume that their parents know more than they do, so your kid will trust your assessments more than its own. If you call your child grouchy, lazy or impatient, don’t be surprised if it starts behaving exactly that way. On the other hand, labels can easily overlook a child’s strengths. A lot of parents call their children shy, but in fact, those kids can be very observant and simply prefer to assess the situation before they act.

Failing is an option

Every child on this planet makes mistakes, and so does yours. However, you need to learn to tolerate them and give your child an opportunity to learn from them. Keep in mind that kids who don’t learn how to lose never learn how to win either. Children who are able to acknowledge their weaknesses and view them as opportunities for growth are more confident and happy.

Teach your kid about the gift of giving

Helping others, making a difference in the world and having a purpose is the best inoculation against low self-esteem for kids. Help your child understand that its actions have meaning and that it can influence others and make them happy. Teach by example, performing meaningful activities together with your kids, show them how to enrich the lives of others and you will have a powerful tool against boredom, self-centeredness, and materialism.

Nurture your Child’s Social-Emotional Development

Although every child is different, these guidelines should help you teach your little one how to form friendships, communicate emotions, become more confident and deal with challenges.