Hands-on social skills activities for kids of all ages. Yesterday my heart was full of pride! My eight year old had his first swimming carnival. He does well in small groups but usually shies away from larger social situations. We have worked on social skills and social confidence a lot since he started school and […]
8 Tips for Helping Your Child Resolve Conflict and Be A Good Friend
As much as we try to avoid it, conflict is a normal part of life. Helping children learn to manage conflict effectively will also help them to experience more fulfilling friendships and enjoy better social experiences, both at school and outside of it. Of course, how well children are able to resolve conflict is directly […]
How Can I Help My Child Develop Social Confidence?
The following question was recently received from a Childhood 101 reader and Mum of two: I was wondering how parents can encourage social and emotional independence in early childhood? I take both my boys to activities such as Music and Swimming and I have noticed that both do not like to get involved/participate. They are […]
No One Will Play With Me: Helping Your Child Make Friends
This post is by regular contributor Kate Fairlie of Picklebums. My usually bright, feisty, full of life, three year old boy was sullen, withdrawn and sad and it took me the better part of a week to figure out why he suddenly didn’t want to go to preschool any more. “No one will play with […]
Friendship: Helping Children Learn to Be Inclusive
At a very young age children begin to notice difference. I remember one time when Immy was about 18 months old and we were walking through a shopping centre and she stopped and stared as a very tall man of (I believe) African descent. I think she stopped as she had never before seen a […]
Friendship: Revisiting a Bully Free Zone
I thought Friendship Month would be a good time to revisit the series of posts on bullying from early last year. Contributed by guest poster, Amanda Gray of Learn2 Be Buddies, the series focused on what we can do as parents and educators to stop bullying in its tracks before it even begins through strategies […]
Friendship: Developing Sharing Behaviour
Consider the following two sharing scenarios; 1. A child is playing with a toy. Another child sees and wants the toy too. An adult intervenes, saying to the first child, “Billy, you can have a turn for two minutes and then we will let Abbie have a turn.” The adults waits with the children and […]
Friendship: Children Developing Empathy
May is Friendship month at Childhood 101. You will see a range of posts by both myself and the regular contributors about friendship as it applies to our children and our own experiences as Mums. Today I would like to begin a short series about children’s social development with a post about empathy. Definition: em·pa·thy […]
Little Collections of a Different Kind
I have previously shared about the walks Immy and I take around our block most days and the little collections she makes along the way. Recently we made a little collection of a different kind, we’ll call it a ‘community building’ collection! We started out, rounded the first corner and came across our next door […]
