Any classes/ lessons for children's social skills

[Boeing787]

Hi. Anyone has recommendation or aware of classes/ lessons in Singapore for Children to improve their social / communications skills? In this era of social media / ipad/ Facebook, I am concerned that my child does not cultivate sufficient social skills required when he steps into society.


Anyone aware of any enrichment programmes that focus on social / communications skills?

Thanks

[sharonkhoo]

Do you really need a course to teach this? You can do it at home, bring your child to meet friends and relatives more etc.

[JohnYeo]

I second that…


why dont u focus on say ‘safe surfing on Facebook’…

what I suggest to what parents can do is to play online games with the DC or visit some websites with DC and "at the same time" while doing together, know what he likes and share some do’s and don’ts…

putting the desktops in a prominent place in the house like the living room can help you be aware of the games he play and the sites he visit.

using some personal time, you may want to check out some hot online games and play a few if u can…u may be surprised by the acronyms and not very nice words the new gen use.

[Neosan60]

i dont think social skills can be taught by any course.

going out of home and out of social circle is already honing social skills, meeting friends parents, meeting me and my hubby's friends and being able to hold simple conversation with adults or even other children, to me are social skills

goin to tuition classes or enrichment and getting to know and get along with new group of classmates there, working on projects, all contributes to social skills

[JohnYeo]

[quote]meeting friends parents, meeting me and my hubby's friends and being able to hold simple conversation with adults or even other children, to me are social skills :)[/quote]
Great sharing...yes, our children are always modelling after us...so just watch how we mingle and socialise with people...and they will do similar when they are interacting with their peers....

[ngl2010]

My son had ever attended public speaking holiday programme a few years back. I think it should be when he was P3. It was held at the old HDB building. I forgot the name of the company.


He enjoyed the programme but does public speaking = social skills? He learned a few things though such as must maintain eye contact, etc.

[JossCruz]

What kind of standard are you looking for because usually, you can do it yourself and throw them out of their comfort zones, socialize with adults, kids, senior citizens, speak with cashier, order food behalf of all of you? Many, many ways… Unless you define social skills as public speaking or meaning you need a life coach… Otherwise, turning an introvert into an extrovert will need some encouragement from home…

[JohnYeo]

I feel we can still be extrovert while continuing to be an introvert…some are situational extrovert…like for me, just for sharing…im an introvert when in front of kids and my parents (my customers), I can be very talkative, approachable, helpful, attentive and very high energy…so different times call for different needs…


social skills are just skills…we use it when we need to…and put it aside when we done…

[sharonkhoo]

JossCruz:

... turning an introvert into an extrovert will need some encouragement from home..

I don't think it's possible to turn an introvert into an extrovert or vice versa at the basic level. Those traits are inborn. However, introverts can be taught to do things which they might not naturally want to do in certain situations, and similarly for extroverts.

[sharonkhoo]

ngl2010:

... does public speaking = social skills? He learned a few things though such as must maintain eye contact, etc.

I don't think so. Public speaking is essentially one-way, but social skills need to be two-way or multi-way.