Help Your Kids Gain Social Skills & Build In Some Green Time.

How sociable are your kids and how do they get along with their peers?

Before you can even get to grips and help your child acquire some useful social skills, you will have to first monitor and supervise their play time so that you know what to work on. Observe the following:

• Does s/he share toys willingly?
• Does s/he barge in on games or finish games that are still in progress?
• Does s/he take turns as one normally would?
• Does s/he have any idea about negotiating or making compromises?
• Has s/he demonstrated any awareness of social cues and body language?

Starting early

We can start early on by simply raising awareness of social skills through specially chosen stories where these are the main theme. Here are various ways we can do this and move on to other techniques:-

• Read stories and comics with the child
• Participate in board games such as ‘Do Watch Listen Say’ for kids who fall somewhere on the autism spectrum
• Role-play various social scenarios
• Help children observe what is going on in certain social situations on TV, in soap operas (suitable for children), and in real life.

Action points to help improve social skills

• Choose playmates and start with a very small number
• Pretend you are the playmate and make a game of going through various scenarios
• Tell him or her what they need to do and be sure to give examples
• Give rewards for good social skills learned
• Explain that any pushing, hitting or grabbing toys is not permitted
• Make sure that teachers and babysitters know what stage you are currently in and request they provide regular progress reports

Build in green time to the daily routine

Have you ever wondered why kids are so ratty, bad-tempered, and downright rude? A lack of green time may be one of the reasons. Being stuck inside with only a screen to stare at and interact with is no fun. Electronic media are downright boring after some time. As somebody once remarked to me, TV entertains, but it will never engage. It might make for a great babysitter, but it will never connect.

Several studies show that playing in green space is a great addition and incredibly beneficial for kids — not only in childhood but later on and into adulthood. They may have fewer mental health problems growing up. Kristine Engemann’s research suggests that ‘Residential green space in childhood is associated with a lower risk of psychiatric disorders from adolescence into adulthood.’ That says it all!

.A University of Illinois study, recently published in the American Journal of Public Health, surveyed 400 ADHD kids — most of whom were boys. They were looking at how the kids spent their time and were asked to log both the time spent on the media and the time they spent in the open air in contact with nature.

After spending time in the open air, concentration improved and they had fewer sleep problems; They were able to concentrate better, were less distracted, and hyperactivity was reduced. It was found that parks and forests were great places to be, but the wilderness settings scored even higher on the scale.

Their conclusions were as follows:

“Green outdoor settings appear to reduce ADHD symptoms in children across a wide range of individual, residential, and case characteristics.” — researchers at University of Illinois

The next time you plan on taking your child to the shopping mall instead of the park, think again!