Two children hug and read a book together outside

The Guide You Need to Help Your Child Play Nice

Everyone must learn to get along with others. And young children are still learning and growing. For this reason, they need support, affection, and structure so that they may thrive in new environments, like a new daycare in Ottawa. Love, nurturing, and emotional and cognitive support help kids feel secure and increase a child’s ability to learn and develop.

With the support and guidance of Early Childhood Education Specialists, the Kids Kingdom Ottawa daycare offers an ideal environment where children can learn to be kind, patient, friendly and independent.

But to promote positive behaviours that can help children integrate well and make friends in daycare, parents must also do their part to teach their children how to be kind to others. So here’s a look at what you can do to help your children get along with others and develop social skills that will last a lifetime.

Top 10 Tips to Help Children Get Along

Use these tips at home with your kids to teach them how to get along with each other and with their friends.

  1. Set and post rules for love, kindness, sharing, and respect using terms and graphics that your children can understand.
  2. Address children’s hurt feelings instead of pointing blame on the offender. Telling a child that their sister is sad because they took away her toy without asking is better than calling the offender naughty or bad.
  3. Set age-appropriate expectations for your kids. Your teenager’s resolution skills should be more advanced than your preschooler’s.
  4. If they are not out of hand, being violent, or swearing, let your children resolve their own disagreements. This will teach them how to problem-solve with others.
  5. Blend children’s interests if they want to play with different things. Ask them how they can play together with both of their interests included.
  6. When doing crafts, have the kids make gifts for each other, or ask them what craft they think the other child would like to encourage them to consider each other’s feelings and interests.
  7. Take turns playing with each child’s interest if the kids want to do different activities.
  8. Focus on each child’s individual strengths to provide them with self-worth in times of competitiveness.
  9. Allow your children to set aside toys and belongings that they don’t have to share. This lets siblings gain respect for each other and their belongings. And during playdates, you can put these special items away.
  10. Praise children when they are playing and working together as a team.

Support and Consistency: Helping Children Understand the Rules

It’s important to be supportive and consistent to create structure in your child’s life and help your child understand the rules. One of the best ways to help your child maintain good behaviour is to be more consistent. This means following through with what you say you’ll do, instead of giving your child extra chances when they break the rules and behave poorly around others.

Inconsistency in the rules can make life unpredictable for kids. As a result, they lack the structure to feel secure and can develop poor attachment issues that can affect them socially, emotionally, and behaviourally.

Positive support and reinforcement for following the rules and doing chores will encourage your child to continue with this positive behaviour in the future.

But it’s important to set age-appropriate expectations for your kids and consistent consequences and privileges based on your child’s behaviour. Clear consequences for breaking the rules, such as loss of privileges, will help change your child’s behaviour for the better. This will show that you love your child while also trying to keep them safe and secure.

The Importance of Routine in Helping Children Cope with New Environments

Routine is another type of structure that your child needs to feel secure. With a routine, your child will know what to expect, and this will help improve their behaviour throughout the day.

Change can be very stressful for children, especially when a child enters a new environment, like daycare. But by following a routine at home and at daycare, your child will feel comfortable with this structure and consistency.

Following a routine will help your child:

  • Get on a schedule so they can nap, sleep, eat, relax, play, and have regular bowel movements;
  • Understand that family time is important;
  • Know when it’s time to do something, like pick up their toys or have a bath, without making a fuss;
  • By creating a calmer, less stressful household because everyone will know what to expect;
  • Gain confidence and independence by knowing what to do at certain times and feeling empowered to do it;
  • Develop healthy habits, like eating breakfast, studying, cleaning their room, and brushing their teeth;
  • Keep track of important things;
  • By giving them something to look forward to;
  • Create daily bonding rituals, such as reading before bed;
  • Have a sense of stability during times of stress and change.

Teaching A Child to Play Nicely

Being Gentle

While some kids are naturally gentle, many need guidance on how to control touch, so they learn not to hurt others. To teach gentleness, you must show how to be gentle. Use a gentle tone and gently touch your child, saying, “This is gentle.” You can also guide your child’s hands to show how little force is used when being gentle. Once your child starts being gentle, praise them.

Learning To Share

Learning to share can be hard, even for adults. But learning how to share makes any relationship or interaction more enjoyable for everyone involved. To teach your child how to share and play nicely, share your time and things with your kids.

Also, talk about your child’s feelings if they are upset about sharing something. Ask if they are worried they won’t get their toy back. By learning to recognize their own feelings, kids will eventually learn to recognize others’ feelings, which is an essential social skill for getting along with others.

Patience with Others

Talk to your child about waiting and taking turns. Learning how to be patient with others is a valuable social skill that will help your child throughout their life.

Read More: The Importance of Teaching Tolerance to Children

There are plenty of fun indoor activities for kids, such as games and activities at the Kids Kingdom child care center that promote social skills that will last a lifetime. Once kids learn that playing is better when everyone shares and gets along, they’ll learn to become compassionate and respectful and get along well with others.