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Summary: Teaching a toddler about social development doesn't always mean that the toddler needs to be playing with a group of children. Teach a child how to form complete sentences, and learn about the social benefits of play groups or church groups with help from a pediatrician in this free video on toddler development and parenting.
Dr. David Hill is a graduate of the UNC internal medicine and pediatrics combined residency, a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and vice president of Cape Fear Pediatrics...read more
"H I'm Dr. David Hill, and today we're going to be talking about activity ideas for toddlers to increase their social development. Toddlers are learning rapidly about how they interact with other people in their environments. By the time your child is a toddler he is understanding an awful lot of the words that people are speaking to him. He is learning to interpret a lot of facial expressions, and he is very interested in what other people are doing. That said, when you take him to play with other children, you might notice that the kids play in the same place, but don't necessarily share or not even playing the same games sometimes. That's okay, that's how they interact with each other. That doesn't mean that this isn't a great time to teach skills like sharing or playing together, but expect that they are probably going to sit down and do their own thing next to each other or on opposite sides of the room. Remember your toddler is going to want to know where you, the parent are at all times. Expect your toddler to go away off on his own a little bit, and then come running back to check in. Away and back, toddlers are still very, very attached to their parents. Some of the things that make the most difference in toddler's social development don't involve groups at all. Just you and your toddler. Be sure that you talk to your toddler in complete sentences of at least five words or longer, let your toddler see your face. And share time, especially sitting in your lap, reading, showing your toddler things that are interesting to you or novel. And letting your toddler come up to you and show you things that are interesting. Those interactions are going to go a long way towards your toddler developing socially. Day care does improve social development for toddlers, although in some males it can also increase aggression. If your child isn't in a daycare, consider a play group or a church group or any other place that you can get him or her together with other children close to his age. So they can bounce off of each other, learn to take turns, learn to share, and learn to interpret each other's emotions. But remember, you are going to want to be nearby as well, because your toddler is going to be looking for you to check in with, and make sure that everything is still okay. Talking about activities to improve toddler's social development, I'm Dr. David Hill."
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