Guest Blogger, Lizzie Weakley
While a parent wishes that their child was the social butterfly, some children just cannot function well under social situations. If your child is the one sitting at the lunch table alone, walking around the playground looking at the ground, and prefers to be in their room than be with other people; you have a serious problem.
Socialization is vital to the very makeup of a person. Without others, the world would be a cold and boring place. Children who do not know how to socially fit well with others can carry these problems into their adult life. It can affect their job stability, friendships, and even the possibility of finding a lifelong partner. Here are some tips that can help you socialize your child.
Enroll Them in Sports Teams
One of the best ways for a child to get socialization is to have them involved in team sports. By enrolling them in teams in the local area, you will encourage them to make friends their own age, and also, get them out and doing something fun. Allow them to pick the sport and be a part of the decision process. If they will not cooperate, then choose a sport based on their home based interests.
Put Them in Counseling
Sometimes, the best way to get a child to overcome social anxieties is to have a therapists help. Using cognitive behavioral therapy another tactics, they can find what the root cause of the issues are. For some children, they have been picked on and it has caused them to revert into a shell. Others just naturally are prone to be a loner. Using applied certification for behavior analysis, a therapist trained in this field can see if there is an underlying cause for concern. Children on the Autistic spectrum may display social angst and it is caused by a syndrome like Asperger.
Don’t Let Video Games Become Their World
If your child is spending more than an hour each day on the computer or video games; they need other outlets. Video games can be good, but they promote isolation. You want to make sure that your child is getting the best of both worlds. The American Pediatric Associations says that an hour of video games is plenty. Any more than that can be damaging to the child’s social skills
It’s a ticklish balance to ensure that your child is healthy and happy. If they are not social by nature, first you must rule out any underlying medical causes. If it is based on feelings of inadequacy and other misconceptions; these need to be addressed during counseling. Some children are just shy by nature. If that is the case, then you need to learn to pull them out of their shell and out into the real world.
