Social interaction skills help people act and react to others and their surroundings. They are both verbal and non-verbal.
Whilst we all expect to have social skills without needing extra effort to develop them, it rarely happens. To have good social interaction skills a person teaches them the entre life and enhances them during the school hours. Education is vital to teaching social skills early; you are most likely to learn fast.
While education helps you grow your social skills, it is also essential to have a basis of social interaction skills. Having the base allows you to follow guidelines, helps you learn and are necessary for inclusion.
High school students are in a period of their lives when they are most vulnerable. Their growth, the changes they physically go through, and the decisions they have to make regarding their future can be all easier taken if they have social interaction skills.
Vital social interaction skills
1. Communicate
Communicating what you want and what you feel makes others understand you easier. Communication is the way to express everything and helps you make friends, do well at school, and develop relationships.
2. Manners
Whatever the settings, we need manners – and they range from verbal to practical ones. They show you are kind and respectful. Manners go a long way, and while there are peaks inside a society where manners are vital and where manners are forgotten, manners remain excellent social skills that cannot harm you but only do you good. Making eye contact is a good manner whenever you speak to someone.
3. Following directions
Knowing to follow directions helps students in their academic progress and in real life. They can quickly get accustomed and learn how to follow directions through playing different social games.
4. Working with others
In working with others, you firstly need a positive attitude. It comes with the eagerness to listen, share, collaborate, help and do your task.
5. Taking turns
When in a group, taking turns is a need. And being open to taking turns and letting others speak and express themselves shows your level of respect towards them and your social skills.
6. Greeting
A community of people needs social skills such as greetings. Greeting others wherever they enter, live, and greet back others helps form the background of the talk or result. It is a skill that will help you everywhere. No matter the language, greetings have a common language.
7. Waiting and having patience = respect towards others
Not everything in life comes when you want; thus, showing patience helps you overcome many situations and respect the others involved.
8. Being a good sport
It helps you in practising team games and plays. It refers to knowing how to win and lose. Positively coping with either of the two is what a good sport does, and more than this, the focus remains on the game.
9. Listening – not just hearing
We all hear with our ears, but this is not what listening is all about. The capacity to listen to teh others helps you communicate and get involved in discussions. Listening also helps students understand where the other is coming from and form positive reactions.
10. Understanding personal space
The COVID – 19 pandemic taught us what personal space is. Keeping hands to self and standing an arm’s way away from someone are the main things personal space means. Knowing when to give others personal space helps you. It shows respect for the interlocutor’s needs.
Ways to develop them at an early age
Developing social interaction skills early does not require too much expertise, but it does require time and focus on the child. Social interaction skills can quickly be developed through:
- Play
- Expressing emotions
- Showing empathy
- Social stories
- Social skills group
Conclusion
Social interaction skills are essential to enhance positive interactions among students. Knowing how to interact and share ideas socially and pieces of information, asking questions, and listening is a great way to gain knowledge. More than knowledge, students’ well-being depends significantly on the positive relationships in their lives.