Social Needs of a Child
From the time our children are born we work with them on getting along with others. Children need to learn how to communicate with others, how to problem solve, and morals. A good place for children to learn these steps is at home with the family. When there is a healthy family relationship the child will develop greater social skills.
One thing that a family can work on is to promote good communication. This can be done by just sitting around the dinner table and holding conversations. The parent needs to talk to the child as well as listen to what the child has to say. This helps to develop the child’s communication skills and teaches them how to communicate with others.
Another thing that families can work on at home is problem solving skills. This can be done by guidance from the parent. The parent can help point out what the problem is and they can think of different ways to solve the problem. After they have come up with different ways to solve the problem the child (with the parents direction) can evaluate the solution and then come up with a plan to solve the problem. This is also another way that the parent can work on communication skills with the child.
When families attend church they learn about different types of morals. However, not everyone has to go to church to learn morals. The parents can teach these at home through example. When the parents are living a clean, good moral life it is showing the child how to live a good clean moral life. It is important for the parent to set good examples so the child has them to follow. The examples the child will learn from are by the parents interactions with other (i.e. the verbal and non-verbal communication with others), by how the parent treats the child, and through observing how the parent handles different situations. The parents can also teach the child about lying and stealing through example and when the conversation comes up. If there isn’t good morals in the home this can affect the moral character of the children.
Parents need to work hard to provide the basic needs for the family. The child shouldn’t need to focus on the basic needs because they need to spend time learning to problem solve. If the child has to stress over the basic needs then there isn’t time left over to learn how to problem solve and can affect the child’s social and emotional development.
At school there are also things that can contribute to the communication development of children. These things can be the interaction of classmates, interactions with the teacher, and how the classroom is arranged. The classroom arrangement can help in encouraging communication between students. By setting the desks up in groups or having tables in the classroom this encourages communication, but if the desks are set up in rows this can hinder the opportunity for children to interact and communicate with each other. Also having the desks set up in groups gives the teacher easier access to the students and helps with the student to teacher communication.
The classroom environment is also another strong contributor to the development of the students problem solving skills. Maurice Elias suggest “engage in creative, disciplined process of exploring alternative possibilities that leads to responsible, goal-directed action, including overcoming obstacles to plans” (Elias, 2003). Through listening to Elias’s suggestion the students can be promoted in their learning, develop problem solving skills, and can also learn how to assume responsibility for their learning.
When the teacher is in the classroom and is dictating to the children and when the child answers something wrong is harsh to them then the students can have impaired communication and problem solving skills. When the student is uncomfortable with answering the question the teacher has asked of them they aren’t able to develop upon their communication skills. However, if the teacher were to show empathy instead of being harsh the student will be comfortable participating and will be able to develop upon their communication skills.
When the child’s basic needs are being met and you add a morally strong home with a classroom that encourages open communication the student will be well on their way of having their communication and problem solving skills met.
