So glad you asked. 🙂
Here are some of my favorite ways of encouraging my children to communicate with others:
- Get them outside!! Yes, being outdoors and spending time playing and exploring nature enhances connection and communication skills with others – even if your child is playing alone. Pretty cool, huh?
- Talk to them often, and use big words. If your child can say “Tyrannosaurus Rex” she can say and learn other big words too!
- Give them the opportunity to talk and have independent conversations, especially with other adults. Oftentimes when we are out running errands, we are so focused on completing tasks and checking off lists that we don’t stop to realize how much our children are learning and absorbing from these daily trips. Let your child order for themselves, chit chat with the clerk, check out their own books at the library, say hi to the person walking by, etc. Model good communication skills and give them a chance to practice too!
- Seek out practical ways to have your child engaged with other children. This doesn’t have to be in their exact peer group necessarily, but of course interaction with other kids is great IF your child wants to (don’t force it). Some good places to try this are library storytimes, sports or lessons, events at local museums, playdates with friends, etc.
- Read! Help your child learn the nuances of conversation while increasing their vocabulary through reading literature every single day! Reading good, diverse literature also helps your children build empathy skills that will help them relate to others better.
And, above all, just remember that you are doing what you know is best for your child. Something like socialisation is a fear that creeps up to help you make sure that you know you’re in alignment with your best choice.
Need some more ways to get out and explore the world around you with your children? Check out A Child’s World Curriculum – full of meaningful ways to encourage natural exploration with your children.
Leah McDermott, M.Ed. is an Educator turned Mother of two and advocate for the encouragement and development of natural, child-led learning. Since 2009, she has helped families and educators provide their children with meaningful learning experiences through her one-of-a-kind curriculum and community, Your Natural Learner. When she’s not teaching and sharing in her Your Natural Learner Facebook Group, she can be found enjoying the great outdoors with her family in the gorgeous Pacific Northwest. Follow along with her on Facebook and Instagram.
