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The Parents Role
Parents are a child’s
most important teacher
and during early
development, parents
lay the foundation
for early social skills
development. And
building your toddlers
social skills from an
early age enables
them to have the right
foundation to be socially
successful. Basic play
skills such as turn-
taking, joint attention
and sharing are
developed with songs,
games, storytelling and
playful interactions with
carers and siblings and
in fact, it is these skills
which form the basic
building blocks for later
social skill development.
Sharing
The ability to share, tells Benton,
begins around ages of three to
four. “Children under this age
are too young to share and need
to be taught how,” she says and
there are normal steps in learning
to share such as possessiveness
and ownership which are part of
your child’s natural development.
Teaching
These ‘mistakes’ are the times
where you can teach skills in
a meaningful way. “A toddler
needs a training program that is
both kind and firm, where they
are taught appropriate behavior
rather than being punished for
inappropriate behavior,” she
explains.
Advice
C
hildren are learning to
share at this age and need
guidance and teaching,
and when a child is having
problems sharing try the
following solutions:
Finding another toy
they can offer a friend.
Finding something else
they can do while they
wait for their turn.
Suggesting and
demonstrating ways
they can play with the
toy together.
Other skills which can
be taught over time
include teaching the
process of sharing
by kindly and firmly
removing the item they
wanted, offer comfort
yet allow them their
frustration, then offer
empathy.
Also model sharing by
playing trading games
with your child or play
games where their dolls
have to share with each
other.
(Credit: Carmen Benton)
H
65
Mar/Apr 2015