Toddlers, Preschoolers and Essential Social Skills!

Are you concerned about your toddler or preschoolers social skills?

Research suggests that a child’s social skills by age three could predict his or her future social and academic performance.*

Children with a head start on social skills and self-esteem are more likely to be able to focus on school work with out the distraction of peer conflicts and other social behavior problems.

Ask yourself these questions with regards to your child:

Do they have opportunities to build friendships, learn turn-taking and co-operation, effectively communicate with others, problem-solve, share, or recognize boundaries and social cues?

Do they have experiences in building self-esteem and independence, by successfully joining group play, learning self-control while gaining confidence in expressing their needs and wants to others?

The group childcare environment is the ideal learning space to build essential social skills that every child should be developing in their early years. Social skills are important in establishing the foundation of your child’s life experience!

Does your child know how to:

• Play effectively with others
• Build self-esteem in group situations
• Recognize peer boundaries, social cues and communication
• Successfully communicate their needs and wants to others in appropriate way
• Understand appropriate social behaviours – such as managing emotions and empathizing with others who are sad or angry, and learning how to react in these situations
• Discover leadership and following roles, determining group roles and co-operation
• Encounter sharing concepts – turn-taking and waiting, communicating and problem-solving
• Build peer friendships and determine which peers they will find connections with

Ensure that your child is receiving the upmost opportunities to build these important social skills and early learning! Ensure that your current childcare program is meeting these needs, ask:

• Do the programs and caregivers promote early social skills such as problem-solving, turn-taking and group play entry?
• How many children are in the group? Is this group large enough to create valuable group interactions such as building self-esteem in leadership roles, and discovering where they can contribute in group activities?
• Are the children the same peer age as my child? Does my child have daily interactions with children his/her own age to develop these social skills and important peer friendships and experience and manage peer conflict?
• Are there opportunities for my child to gain independence and discover self, as well as be involved in being a part of a group?
• Are they exposed to books and real situations everyday that teach them about peer social conflict situations and how to manage internal feelings, and problem-solve during these conflicts, resulting in a compromise or positive outcome?

• Our experienced educators provide these daily opportunities for your child to grow, learn and build upon all these essential social skills with their peers! We want your child to have these significant experiences! Our licensed childcare facilities provide developmentally age-appropriate programs, toys and equipment, educated caregivers, ensuring a safe and fun environment. Your child has the opportunity to play and create friendships with children their own age, be a part of co-operation activities and learn team-building skills, as well as learn self-esteem by leading groups or voicing their thoughts/ wants/ needs with in a group.

These are all fantastic skills to learn prior to the school years! Children will have team knowledge if their join sports. They will be more confident to stand in front of the class to present school projects because they have had experience voicing themselves in large groups and building the confidence to do so. They will be able to focus more on school work if they have good friendships and less peer conflicts. It’s really an endless list of positive outcomes when children learn early the social and emotional skills that will carry them throughout their lives!

Are you a stay at home parent?

Part-time care is a fantastic way to ensure your child gains important early learning and social skills. These opportunities are not ideally accessible in the home environment. Group care also offers experiences in following gentle routines, learning through play and building self-help skills, all while having fun with friends and our experienced staff!

*Michigan State University. "Childhood Social Skills Linked To Learning Abilities." ScienceDaily, 21 Jun. 2007. Web. 28 Sep. 2011.,