Interpersonal skills are vital in a human being’s life.

Through human interaction, a person can develop relationships and form his character. Interpersonal skills will help him to achieve a bond with other human beings around him. It is recommended to develop these skills in your child at an early age to function well in their personal and professional lives.

Interacting with your child teaches them the basics of how to socialise. Being mindful of how you behave and talk around your child is essential.

What are Interpersonal Communication Skills?

Commonly referred to as social skills, soft skills, people skills, or life skills, interpersonal skills are the skills you need to interact with people. These skills are essential to have an effective daily conversation in English for kids.

Interpersonal skills include the following:

• Communication Skills

• Emotional Intelligence

• Team Working Skills

• Negotiation, Persuasion, and Influencing Skills

• Conflict Resolution Skills

• Problem Solving Skills

• Decision Making Skills

How to Develop Interpersonal Communication Skills in Your Child

Interpersonal skills are essential skillsets in your life. Developing these skills in your child is vital for effective communication. Here are some ways you can help your child developing these:

1. It begins at home

Encourage your children to express themselves. Developing interpersonal skills is the beginning of understanding one’s mental process of conceptualising a thought and communicating it clearly.

When you let your kids express their opinions and feelings, you give them the chance to practice the process of translating their thoughts into words.

2. Beyond the vocal communication

There are plenty of ways to express ourselves apart from verbal communication. Help your child brainstorm other ways to convey their feelings without using words.

Non-verbal communication is important. In some communities, non-verbal communication is considered more powerful than verbal communication. Ask your younger kids to express their emotions without using words, maybe with their facial expressions.

3. Encourage their hobbies and interests

Hobbies and interests are common to spark up conversations between peers. If your child has any hobbies, encourage them to sign up for programs that pique their interests. This even develops their creative thinking and critical thinking. It will enable them to interact with other kids with the same interest.

Your kids will communicate with other kids who share similar interests developing their interpersonal skills.

4. The importance of empathy

As much as speaking skills are essential, listening skills matter too. While you teach your kids to express what they feel, make them practice mindfulness. Asking them open-ended questions is a great way to encourage kids to dig deep into their thinking ability.

While communication and interpersonal skills heavily depend on interacting with others, listening is also an integral part. Understanding others is essential, along with being understood.

5. Friendliness is the key

A smart kid is raised on the fronts of being kind. Teach your child to be friendly. Make your child practice saying ‘hi’ to other people and ask them how their day went. Make them have eye contact with the people.

Teach them to look into people’s eyes when talking to people. Ask them the following things:

• Did they smile at everyone?

• Do they greet people with a ‘hi’?

• Do they look into people’s eyes when talking to them?

6. Asking questions is healthy

Asking your child questions will encourage them to ask others questions when they are talking. This makes them realise that interacting comprises both listening and talking.

When your child is talking to you about something, ask them questions related to it and when they are speaking with someone, encourage them to ask them questions.

7. Be an example

Your child is not going to learn effective communication as soon as he is born. They will retain most of it by watching you or others interact.

Teach your child the basic ethics of communication, like letting people finish talking and not interrupting in between. If you end up doing unethical behaviour in front of them, don’t feel ashamed to call yourself out.

8. Read books to your child

Developing reading habits in your child develops their vocabulary. Public speaking for kids also becomes easier when they have a good command of English.

Reading books to your child also enhances their listening ability. Find interesting reading books and practise both reading and listening. Let them listen to what you read while they wait for their turn to read.

9. Tell them different parts of a conversation

To build exemplary communication and interpersonal skills in your kids, you need to teach them the different parts of communication that exist in a conversation. Every communication has three parts: start, mid, and end. Making them aware of this is vital for effective communication.

Teach them how to start a conversation, how to continue it, and how to end it.

10. Teach them what is appropriate talk and what is not

Some topics are off-limits for your children to bring up in specific conversations. They are not going to be aware of it naturally. Make then realise the difference between appropriate and inappropriate conversations. Teach them what they can and cannot talk about to other people.

11. Appropriate voice levels

Children can get quickly excited about various stuff. They can speak in high pitch. It is not considered appropriate to talk at certain voice levels. You need to inform your kids about the appropriate voice levels and when to speak in what tone.

12. Active listening is important

Active listening is a vital life skill. You can actively demonstrate this skill by actively listening to what they are saying to teach them this skill. This will teach them the habit of attentively listening to what others say. This is an essential aspect of interpersonal skills - to understand what others say while being understood.

13. Communication games

Playing communication games will enhance their communication skills. Use their regular playtime in teaching them effective communication.

You can create storytelling games where they will have to develop interactive and narrative dialogues and encourage them to practice their communication skills.

14. Develop assertiveness in them

Your shy and introverted child will have problems in being assertive; you will have to help them. Ask them what they want and encourage them to express their feelings, and tell them that no one will understand what they truly want if they do not express it.

15. Nonverbal communication is important

Nonverbal communication is as important as verbal communication. One of the easiest ways to tell them about nonverbal communication is to explain them.

Generally, wide eyes imply fear. If your child does not understand this nonverbal sign, let them know.

16. Sharing is caring

Encourage your children to share. Sharing requires nonverbal skills, verbal skills and develops trust and understanding.

17. Make them observe

Observation is a key skill in learning. When you and your child are in a public space, encourage them to observe verbal and nonverbal communication.

Developing Interpersonal Skills With PlanetSpark

Interpersonal skills are needed for every individual to interact with other humans successfully. They are the basic skills one needs to develop.

At PlanetSpark, we encourage the growth of your child. Our platform uses the help of powerful technology for the personality development of children.

Enrol now and provide your child with a learning platform that suits his ability and watch him nurture into an amazing individual by adapting new-age skills.