May 3, 2010 Posted by denice johnson on May 3, 2010 in life, video | 0 comments

the importance of teaching children social skills

Education is changing. Most schools now put some focus on the importance of social development in addition to the usual academic curriculum. The move in this direction stems from the idea that a socially viable child is one who will make better decisions for himself and his community. He will be a child with good leadership skills and the maturity necessary to be successful in life.

We have recently discovered that some schools are using Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of HIghly Effective People as the foundation of their curriculum with great success. Dr. Covey writes about this in his blog at The Huffington Post:

“The winds of education reform are beginning to stir once again. Our collective conscience is being nudged. And there’s good reason. The world has moved into one of the most profound eras of change in human history. Yet our children, for the most part, are simply not prepared for the new reality. The gap is widening. And we know it.”

Thankfully, many schools have begun to be aware of this shift and the need for children to develop with the times. Some schools have adopted Covey’s 7 habits specifically while others have adopted other social models. This is an important step in a positive direction but it is also important for parents to fan these flames of change within the home.

Covey has designed a program specifically for children called The Leader In Me. There are several interesting videos on the website which talk about the program and how well it is working in those places it has been implemented.

After watching several of the videos and reading more on the subject, my husband and I have decided that the 7 Habits are a good fit for our family. The concept suits our core parenting beliefs and goals while also being well suited to our overall ideology. We watched some videos with the children and discussed whether this was something they would feel good about participating in – their willing involvement is important for the habits to take root. They were both enthusiastic and wanted to get started right away.

Here’s what we’re doing:

~We’ve discussed what the 7 Habits are and what each of them means.
~We have put a list of these habits up in each of their rooms.

~We will focus on each habit exclusively for one week at a time to learn it well and incorporate it into our lifestyle and habits. The habit of the week is posted on the side of the fridge and talked about every morning with gentle reminders throughout the day to think of ways to apply the new habit.

~For this week’s Habit – Be Proactive – we are encouraging the children to come up with ways they can be proactive (brush teeth before being asked, help set the table when you see it’s getting close to dinner time). We are also providing a list of Proactive Ideas which is on the table when they get home from school. They look at the list and decide when and how they will or will not be using those ideas. It’s important that they each be actively involved in creating the habit themselves and seeing what works and why.

There are a lot of choices for parents and educators to make when working with the children in our care. Helping children develop socially is of paramount importance and this is one method of teaching them to respect themselves and others while encouraging positive leadership skills. I am excited as we begin this project within our family and am happy to say we are already seeing positive results. I plan to post a weekly update for each new Habit we are working on with a report on how effective the program has been for us.