In today’s digitally influenced world, social skills seem to have lost prominence in life. It’s now possible to do everything virtually online, and this includes making friends and interacting with family. However, social skills remain critical for many aspects of human interactions. This is a good reason to enrol your child for a preschool Singapore program.
With too much emphasis on technology even in learning, people continue to lose that personal touch that once existed. Students find it harder to interact or even handle public situations because of dependence on technology and lack of social skills.
As your child develops, they have to interact with people from all backgrounds and social skills come in handy. Early childhood teachers have the expertise to create situations that allow your child to refine their social skills and help them cope easily with people.
This post looks at the importance of developing social skills in preschool from an early age:
Boost in Communication
Preschool is all about the child expressing themselves better in a structured setting. When a child is at home, they don’t have to put any effort into communication. The child has everything provided and they’re the centre of attention.
Such a situation diminishes the child’s creativity or ability to express themselves, and this is where the preschool experience comes in handy. The child interacts with others and has to learn quickly how to express their needs. In the preschool setting, children discover the need for understanding and they learn fast to communicate.
As your child progresses in preschool, you’ll note they become politer and try to use words to express their needs. These skills are critical for a child’s integration into society. A child who learns how to communicate early has an upper hand when they progress to a primary school setting.
Emotional Growth
What happens when a child is angry at home? Most likely, they throw a tantrum and everyone has to leave what they’re doing to attend to the child’s needs. In the formal school setting, a child will learn how to express their emotions better.
If a child is hungry, they won’t cry but will instead try to express how they feel to the teacher. A child distinguishes different emotions at an early age, including anger, joy, sadness, and others. Once they understand these emotions, it becomes easier for the teacher to train them to cope with the feelings.
Your child gets out of preschool more mature and can handle situations that kids who missed these classes find difficult.
Appreciate Diversity
In preschool, you have children from all backgrounds. International preschools in Singapore offer innovative educational programs and you’ll find children from different nationalities here. When your child enrols in such a school, they interact with children from different races and ethnicities.
The teacher helps answer their curiosity in the best way such that the child understands everyone is equal. Some biases that might be common in the family settings disappear in the child’s eye as they embrace diversity from an early age.as the child grows, they have a better understanding of the world and are comfortable dealing with people from all backgrounds.
Nurturing Listening Skills
Listening is a crucial skill in life and parents struggle to instil it in their children. If you don’t enhance a child’s listening capacity, you’ll struggle with them at home. In preschool, the structured setting means there’s a time for everything.
Children learn to listen to authority and even to other students. When a teacher forms round circle talks or games, they want to enhance every child’s ability to listen to others until it’s their turn. These listening skills come in handy in integration of the child into society. A child who listens keenly is well-behaved and always completes tasks quickly.
Enhancing Teamwork
Teamwork is a buzzword from school to the office. Management and psychology theories emphasize the importance of teamwork, and this is a social skill that your child can learn from an early age.
In the preschool set up, children struggle to complete tasks alone until they discover the power of teamwork. Teachers encourage teamwork through group activities where different teams compete to complete tasks. Teamwork is an integral social skill that your child requires to exist harmoniously with others.
Empathy/Compassion
When children come together and start interacting, they build relationships. From such bonds, the child discovers the importance of caring for each other. Teachers help the students understand each other’s feelings and you’ll soon start hearing your child telling you about their friends.
Whenever the friend is sad, your child comes home and tells you about the situation. This empathy and compassion is crucial in socialization of a child into a caring adult.
Self-control
When a child starts preschool classes, they might not have a lot of self-control. Parents and siblings do everything for the child, and the child doesn’t understand self-regulation. At school, teachers help the child become more responsible. They interact in a structured setting where there are rules to obey. Self-control is an important social skill which helps your child grow into a responsible adult.
If you’re wondering how preschool can help your child grow socially, there you have it. Children in preschool have better control of emotions, they care for each other, communicate better, work as a team and respect authority and each other. It’s the first step in moulding your child into a socially responsible adult.
