When you talk about all the things you need to do to provide your child with a healthy environment, mental stimulation and educational material – one of the things that is often left off is how to teach your baby social skills. Social skills are fundamental when it comes to being a part of a larger community.
We see people everyday whether they are our neighbors, our work mates, our spouses, our families or even just the casual stranger at the store. We interact with people on a daily basis and no matter how slight those interactions may seem – they require a set of skills that unique unto those social situations.
As we talked about socializing the stay at home baby yesterday and the different opportunities to discover or make to help you socialize your baby. There are things you can do right at home that you begin as early as the first day you bring baby home from the hospital.
The first step towards socializing your baby is talking to them. Conversation is something even newborns appreciate. They love the sound of their mom’s voices. They know the sound from having been in the womb and whether you ever talked directly to your stomach or not, they heard you when you were talking to other people. As baby grows from newborn to infant, talk to them.
Develop the habit of explaining what you are doing as you are doing. Changing a diaper? Talk to them about it. Washing the dishes? Talk to them about it. Going to run to the bathroom for a minute? Tell them about it. By keeping up a running dialogue with your baby, you are introducing them to language, to questions, to answers and to conversation. You will be identifying actions, items and sounds.
Never ignore when your baby is babbling. They may not make sense to you, but if you listen a lot of babies have a rhythm and cadence to their babble that is remarkably reminiscent of conversation. Provide a mirror for baby to play in. The mirror allows baby time to learn facial expressions and body language. Babies are just as fascinated by their smiles and frowns as we are. Watch closely when baby is babbling at himself in the mirror and having ‘dress rehearsals” for their different expressions.
Lead by example when you’re playing with your baby. Instead of saying, “Give me that!” with affection and laughter, say, “Let’s share this so we can play together!” I know it sounds like a Sesame Street line, but consider that there’s a reason they talk like that on those shows. Talk about taking turns. Be sure to encourage baby on ‘their’ turn.
Encourage their make-believe, but don’t let them treat their toys badly. Seriously, when baby is being mean to the stuffed animal give baby a time-out and emphasize when they are being gentle and kind. It’s important for baby to learn that they cannot ill-treat their friends whether they are a stuffed bear, baby doll or real child. These are all important social skills they will need when interacting with others and they can learn them all right there at home as you go about your daily activities!