Humans are social beings and are wired to live in families and communities. When a child or adolescent has a poor sense of social connectedness, they risk being excluded.
I explore this growth and development in all my books as it is the key to human resilience and personal success. Endless hours of playing with other children are still the best way to build social and emotional competence. No screen will ever be able to replace this and it is through hours of play, which will include episodes of childhood nastiness, that children work out how to be a good friend. In fact, I have a very popular audio track, I Am a Good Friend, that helps young kids work on these skills.
As well as checking out the resources on this page, I regularly encourage people to check out the work of the folks at www.bestprograms4kids.com.au who have some fantastic resources on teaching kids social and emotional skills.
Also if your child / teen is experiencing cyberbullying, please check out the work of Rachel Downie and the team at stymie.com.au and also the Office of the e-Safety Commissioner has loads of great resources for parents, plus practical mechanisms for reporting abuse: esafety.gov.au/
