Supporting your child with their communication skills

Most children have the ability to respond to others when they are communicated with. As a parent, it is important to understand the different developmental stages your child will go through and the things they will need along the way to support their growth in communication. Adults communicate with young ones to show their love and support and to help develop their self-esteem and confidence. 

Supporting their social and emotional development with love is important above all. Both infants and toddlers need help from loved ones to learn how to talk and communicate their feelings. 

Here is some advice from a private nursery in Southgate on supporting your child with their communication skills. 

Respond to their movements, noises and looks. When infants don't know how to communicate with the right words, they will communicate in different ways using their facial expressions, gestures, sounds, and body movements. 

An example of this is when your child wants to be picked up, they usually will come up to you with their arms up. Once you have embraced them and given them a cuddle, they will usually gaze at you or make eye contact whilst you talk to them. Your instant response tells them that they have communicated effectively and that you value the way they feel. this helps children to continue developing their communication skills.

Talk to your child regularly and listen to what they have to say. You can start communicating with a child from as early as birth. this will help your child develop a special bond with you. This can be done by giving them lots of love and time and creating an environment where communication is open. Start by initiating the conversation and encourage them to open up and share their own feelings with you. 

Help them build on their language skills by completing daily activities and routines with them. You can do this by describing what you and your child see or do in your daily life and repeating unfamiliar words in different situations. Over time, these activities will become mundane and help your child effectively develop their communication skills.

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How to Raise a Compassionate Child

 

Compassion not only makes the world a brighter place but can also have tremendous health benefits and help you to make long-lasting friendships too. 

By definition, it is the ability to empathise and the desire to go out of your way to help others. We have teamed up with a private school in Cambridgeshire to share 5 ways that you can raise a compassionate child.

 

Being Understanding and Empathetic

Lesson one for teaching compassion is developing emotional intelligence. This involves building your child’s understanding of emotions and body language which can help them to identify when others are sad or distressed in order to help them. You can do this by creating your own flipbook of emotions or pointing to characters in TV shows.

 

Avoid Arguing Infront of Your Child

Conflict resolution is a key skill for being compassionate. It’s not until we’re aggravated or are faced with confrontation that we often say things that we regret. Knowing how to do so calmly can help your child to avoid landing in similar situations, avoid trouble and gain the respect of others.

 To do this, it’s important to not argue in the presence of your child and teach them how to manage stress and difficult emotions correctly using tools such as mindfulness.

 

Teach Self-Care and Compassion

Showing self-love is just as important and can help your child to maintain good health and mental wellbeing. 

There are many ways that you can explore this with your child with one being role play by demonstrating how you take care and look after yourself.

 

Speak Kindly to Yourself

Self-talk looks at how we talk to ourselves and often this can be in a more critical light than the way that we talk to others.

 Not only can this lead to poor mental health but doing so in front of your child can result in them developing similar behaviours too.

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Mindfulness with Your Child

 

Mindfulness is a powerful tool that can help children and adults deal with the stresses and strains of daily modern life.

 

What is Mindfulness?

 

Mindfulness is the act of focusing on the present moment. It’s a type of meditation designed to help people pay attention to their bodies, thoughts and feelings. It’s very useful for children because it helps them to develop coping skills for their emotions which for many children are hard to regulate.

 

Many schools adopt mindfulness as a regular part of the curriculum. Pastoral care is an important factor to consider when choosing a school, this junior school in Leicestershire has an excellent pastoral care team. Research has shown that Mindfulness can help children’s academic performance and reduce anxiety. Bedtimes can also be improved with Mindfulness as it can calm wakeful or over-stimulated children. Here are some ways in which you can easily explore Mindfulness with your child:

 

Take a Mindful walk

 

Take your child for a walk somewhere quiet and filled with nature. Help them to tune into the environment by pointing out the sounds…wind in the grass, birdsong, the babbling of a stream. Help your child to tune in to each sound separately and then to hear them all together. Point out the different sites such as flowers, leaves and other natural features. Focus on small aspects of each – notice the centre of a flower and each individual petal.

 

Mindful bedtimes and how they can help your child

 

Bedtime is a great opportunity to explore Mindfulness. Ask your child to lie down and in a calm, quiet voice, ask them to notice each part of their body separately, starting with their toes and moving up to ankles, knees, stomach, shoulders and so on.

 

Ask your child to notice how each area feels. The idea of this exercise is to help your child to focus on the present moment and not to worry about anything at all. Anxiety prone children should be encouraged to practice this alone eventually. 

 

The great thing about Mindfulness is that it can be practised anywhere! At home, on a walk, at school and on a bus! It’s a free, effective way to calm and focus. And many children need that focused energy in order to manage their day to day lives.

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