Social Skills Development

Although affectionate and loving, toddlers are also unrealistic and become easily frustrated, resulting in tantrums. They cannot empathise yet with others, as they cannot put themselves in someone else’s shoes. So if they hit someone, they think it didn’t hurt the other person because it didn’t hurt them.

If they look in the mirror and see chocolate on their face, they now know to wipe their face, rather than the mirror because they understand that the mirror is showing them with chocolate on their face and not someone else in the mirror. This shows that a toddler’s memory, understanding and cognition are slowly improving and getting stronger.

And there is more of an emphasis on them being an individual.

To help toddlers develop a sense of self and other social skills here are some ideas to support their development:

• Take them to play groups and play centres where they can interact with other children.
• Play games with them that involve taking turns.
• Talk to them
• Encourage them to talk to others, like saying ‘Thank you’, etc.
• Use puppets to model behaviour