The Benefits of Socialising for Babies and Toddlers
If you are worried that your baby or toddler isn’t having enough playdates, or attending sufficient toddler classes, don’t. Without even realising it, you and other family members and caregivers are already engaging in daily activities that help to promote your child’s social development. For example, for babies’ regular skin-to-skin contact, feeding (including breastfeeding), listening to you talk to them or read stories and have cuddles are all promoting their social skills. As your child grows and moves into toddlerhood, spending more time with their peers either at playdates, playgroups or at a child-care centre can have a number of benefits.
Builds Self Esteem
Children can benefit from spending time in social settings like day care, play dates and classes because they learn to be comfortable in places other than home and learn to trust adults other than their parents.Being able to flourish and have fun without the need for their parent to be right beside them also allows them to build self-esteem. This is a crucial milestone for later success at school.
Language Development
Your child’s language development begins from the moment you meet. Making eye contact and talking to them even from a young age helps them to lay the foundation for their cognitive and verbal skills. As they move into the toddler years and begin to add words to their vocabulary it can be very beneficial for them to spend time with children around their own age. Every time they are given the opportunity to interact with another child, they're practising and developing their communication skills.
Teaches Them About Emotions
By spending time with peers, toddlers get to learn more about emotions, both their own and others. By learning to think about how their peers might feel they begin to learn more about how relationships work, and how to act in certain situations. That’s not to say they’ll always get it right, but it provides them with the opportunities to practice empathy, and control their impulses and aggressive behaviour.
Teaches Social Skills
Play dates, playgroups and day care settings are a great place for toddlers to practise showing respect for others, taking turns and sharing, particularly if they don’t have siblings at home. They start to learn how to treat others and to respect boundaries.
Exposure to New Play Experiences
Whilst most babies participate in parallel play (or side-by-side play) they can also benefit from being around other babies. It gives them an opportunity to learn new social cues, play with a different range of toys and navigate a new environment. Not to mention, it can also be a much-needed outlet for parents and a great way to build a support network.
For toddlers, these play experiences can really encourage imagination and creativity, and prompt them to think on their own.
Social development is linked to many other areas of your child’s overall development, which is why it can be really beneficial for them to start socialising with other children from a young age. Regular social interactions help them to develop a sense of self, and better understand what is expected of them in certain situations. It also gives them more opportunity to practise these all-important social skills before they start kindergarten and later, school.
