When our children are young, we very rarely tend to think about how to make the most for them when they grow up. When they are babies and toddlers, it is up to us as parents to care for them, to nurture them and to give them as much love as we can. When they are at this stage in their lives, we do just about everything for them: bathe them, dress them, change their diapers, teach them etc. It is what parents do, and we expect to do such things when parenthood approaches. At first, all of these things may come across as daunting especially if we have not had any children before or have not got experience of caring for children but with time, all of these acts become second nature and instead of thinking about those aspects, we just simply do them without any other thoughts lodging in our heads. However, when our children grow up, they become more self aware and become more able to do things for themselves. Do not get me wrong – when our children do start to do more things for themselves it can take a lot of pressure off us and allow us to care for ourselves a bit more but we will always miss being able to care for them all of the time. Regardless, when our children begin to do things for themselves different aspects creep into their lives such as their need to socialize, their need to explore their surroundings, and their growing ability to learn more about life and educate themselves rather than us having to teach them different aspects.
When it comes to our children developing, they develop very quickly and sometimes learn new things without us even noticing! A vital part of a child’s development is to allow them and enable them to interact and socialize with other children who are their age, or are a similar age to them. It is when our children are around other children that they can truly learn new skills and develop ideas on different parts of life. We have all noticed children copying other children’s actions (or the actions of other people) and when we notice this, it is then obvious that a big part of their learning comes from being with and being around other children. However, it is not always easy for us to keep an eye on these sort of developments with our children as they could pick up new things when they are at school, at a club or playing with other children outside or elsewhere.
If you would like to see more of your child interacting with others, then a good idea could be to invite their friends over (always ask the parents first, of course!) and allow them a lot of space and time in which they can interact with each other. When deciding to go through with this, an important aspect will be to ensure your home is clean, comfortable and free from any potential hazards. A good way of doing this is to make a part of your home a children’s play area, for when your child’s friends come around. Avoid creating a space in the kitchen where there could be heavy and potentially dangerous kitchen utensils and sharp objects, and instead opt for an area such as the living room where there is likely to be much more space and furniture which you could move around. Again, though, remove all potential risks from the living room to ensure the safest space possible. If you want to make the area as comfortable as possible for when your child’s friends come round, you would do well to think about possible additions to your home. Put some research in, and take a look and what you can find at fombag.com, and allow your child and their friends to interact, have fun and enjoy each other’s company in a safe and comfortable space.
You could also provide educational toys, tools or even videos to allow any beneficial interaction to take place. Stimuli such as these aspects are not only a great tool to allow interaction but can also provide the children with educational skills, such as knowledge of different subjects and key skills such as hand to eye co-ordination and further motor skills.
Another positive aspect of inviting your child’s friends around is that you can get to know their parents, bond with them and form friendships. This is not only beneficial to you but can also provide more benefits to your child, in the sense that they could be invited over to their friend’s homes and learn even more skills. Also, when you form good and positive relationships with other parents, you could ask them to help out in emergencies such as if you are struggling to pick up your child from school and could ask them to pick your child up and look after them for a short amount of time. Also, when you become friends with other parents this could mean that you can spend your free time with them and socialize yourself. After looking after your child for so long, you could really do with some adult bonding – invite your new friends out for coffee, for a meal, to a bar, or the cinema. Or, you could even ask them around to your house and socialize just like your child is with their children – without the restricted play area of course!
Allowing your child to interact with other children is a vital aspect of developing your child’s social skills. Some children do not benefit from a good social life when they are young and this can really affect their ability to communicate with others as they grow older. If you allow your child to socialize a lot at a young age only bodes well for their future, and as we all – as parents – wish our children to have positive and beneficial futures, do your utmost to provide them with good social opportunities.
