Socialization in Early Childhood
- MESH moms
- 19 hours ago
- 2 min read
By Christina Branton, Charlotte Moms Network
The importance of having your baby or toddler socialize with other children their age spreads far beyond the concept of making friends and being comfortable around others.
Socializing with other babies and toddlers teaches “soft skills,” or skills that allow for making connections and interacting with others. These are the skills that help children (and adults!) express their needs, organize, and foster relationships.
Essentially, soft skills are life skills, and while they are not measurable like cognitive skills are, they are vital to success. Here are some of the many soft skills that your child will cultivate while socializing with others:
Social Cues: Children learn how to manage their behaviors and learn about the feelings of others when interacting. If someone takes a toy away and the other child gets upset? The first child learns that this is maybe not the right way to get what you want.
Problem Solving: Playing with other children provides an open-ended opportunity for learning to solve problems. Children building together with blocks, for example, are learning how to balance when creating a tower or a bridge. What if one child has all of the square blocks and another child needs one? This provides an opportunity for children to ask questions and compromise.
Language Development: By listening to and interacting with peers and adults, children acquire new vocabulary words, learn the “give and take” of speech patterns, and practice expressing themselves. Adults model effective expressive language; often, many children will respond "This one!" or "That one!"when selecting an item instead of saying, "The first one” or “The red one with blue stripes.” Asking follow-up questions when conversing with your child allows this skill to build and strengthen.
Attention Span: In this day and age, attention span is a skill that requires more practice. Screentime and other technological devices allow children to receive information immediately, rather than having to be patient and wait for a response. Reading stories aloud and participating in a group setting (such as circle time) teaches children to focus on the tasks at hand. Science-based activities and experiments (including cooking!) require attention to detail and patience, and in a group setting, allows for collaboration and teamwork, even when there are distractions.
Working to Completion: Sometimes, it’s hard for children (and adults!) to continue working on a project that becomes difficult. It seems easier to just give up than follow through on a frustrating task. However, it’s important to encourage children to work through challenging exercise. It teaches them to build resiliency, manage their time by breaking a task into smaller steps, and ultimately builds confidence, which emboldens children to not be afraid to try new things.
Socializing with others can occur on a play date, at preschool or day care, at a music class, or on the playground. Parents, teachers, and caregivers gently facilitate these skills while children play and interact. It provides a low-pressure environment for acquiring new skills, which is honestly the best and most effective way for children to learn while having fun at the same time.
Christina Branton is the site manager for Charlotte Moms Network, a part of the nationwide Local Moms Network. She is also an early childhood educator with over 25 years of experience.
@charlottemomsnetwork
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