Understanding Social-Emotional Development
Let’s talk about the importance of children’s social-emotional development and how you can support and nurture these skills for ages three to six.
When children engage in positive interactions, they are building a strong foundation for in school and in life.
Social-Emotional Development
Social-emotional development involves:
The way children feel about themselves
Their understanding of emotions
Their ability to regulate emotions
Their progress in forming relationships and bonds with others
Learning how to become a member of a community
Benefits of having social-emotional awareness:
More likely to understand other’s perspectives (empathy)
More likely to respond appropriately to other’s emotions
Less likely to become angry or aggressive
Being able to regulate emotions correlates with positive academic performance
Develop friendships more easily with peers
The more that we as adults recognize, acknowledge and discuss children’s emotions with them, the more successful they’ll be.
How can we assist our children in this development?
Support but shy away from directing their feelings
Give children the space to work through their emotions. Have discussions on how they’re feeling, what is causing certain reactions, and how those reactions might make you or someone else feel. Allow them to learn how to regulate and identify their emotions with assistance.
We already know one way we can easily practice identifying emotions in others… Books!
Celebrate your child’s accomplishments and discoveries
Acknowledge and encourage your child’s work and play. This means creating a safe environment where they can actively participate and explore both freely and with guidance.
Use “positive guidance,” and support your child in learning acceptable and unacceptable behaviors
“Positive guidance,” means guiding behaviors in respectful ways.
Have realistic expectations
Helps them learn boundaries
This will build a solid foundation for future positive interactions
“When little people are overwhelmed by big emotions, it’s our job to share our calm, not join their chaos.””
Stages of Social-Emotional Development
Age 3
Also known as “Children in Transition.” They’re beginning to resemble four- and five-year olds more than two-year olds. Their social skills are improving which allows them to play in small groups. This is the time where they need to trust the adults in their lives. This trust gives them the confidence to explore their world and become more independent. It’s important to note that at this age they are still egocentric, meaning their ability to regulate emotions is nowhere near fully developed.
Age 4
Similar to three-year olds, but with larger vocabularies, and the ability to accomplish tasks at a higher level. They’re a mix of independent and social, as they want to do things on their own and begin playing with other children more easily when in small groups. You might start to notice they share more readily and will imitate the adults in their lives. This is the age where you start to get a lot of “why” questions, which means, this is also a great time for you to practice patience 😉.
Age 5 & 6
At these ages, children are better able to control their strong emotions, take care of their own needs, and develop and maintain friendships, although the actions of a five-year old may still be similar to that of a preschooler. They become more persistent as they face new challenges and are increasingly independent and self-sufficient. They exceed in social areas, and tend to develop strong friendships that will last for months. Their pro-social behaviors now will play a vital in their later development.
Understand that all children will develop differently, and these are just the common characteristics you might see. Each child develops on their own schedule and will respond differently to various strategies.
Next time, we’ll discuss the learning styles of our children and the strategies to help support them.