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Mental Health Minute: Building Social and Emotional Skills at Home

PSRC

October 2, 2023

Mental Health Minute

Mental Health and Wellness

Building Social and Emotional Skills at Home

Supporting your child’s social and emotional wellness is a critical part to their overall success. Social-emotional development refers to a child’s ability to experience, manage, and express their feelings, build relationships, and responsible decision-making skills. 

In her book, “Confident Parents, Confident Kids,” Jennifer Miller shares methods for building social and emotional skills at home (2020). 

  • Identifying Your Hopes and Dreams- What are your hopes and dreams for your parenting? How would you ultimately define success in raising your child? Then, begin working in small ways to achieve those dreams.  

  • Exercising Your Emotions- Small daily practices that model your routines, responsibilities, and interactions with others. Involve your child in ways that allow them to take responsibility and sharpen their skills. 

  • Building Self-Awareness- Help your child identify their emotions and understand the reasons they are feeling a particular way. Burying our feelings is not healthy. 

  • Building Self-Management- With patience and consistency, help your child develop strategies to persist toward an important goal, despite frustrating setbacks.  

  • Building Social Awareness- Teach your child how to see from another’s perspective. 

  • Building Relationship Skills- In all relationships, there will be disagreements. Teach your child how to negotiate, compromise, assert needs, empathize, and act compassionately toward others’ hurt feelings. 

  • Building Responsible Decision-making Skills- Give your child small and regular opportunities to make authentic choices. Help them think through the consequences before acting and reflect on poor choices.  

When you work to strengthen the emotional intelligence of your child, they will be better equipped to navigate stressors, anxieties, and challenges. Practicing social-emotional skills consistently gives your child a toolkit they can readily draw upon to navigate stressors or de-escalate conflicts.  

Happy Mental Health, 

Oxendine Elementary School, School Counseling Department