Road to Social Awareness
- Nov 13, 2023
- 3 min read
We talked about the importance of Self-Management last week. It's a great step toward developing self-understanding, self-reflection, and emotional self-control. This takes us to the subject of Social Awareness, which is our next topic. Our aim is to discover how we may assist our children in acquiring the social awareness skills they need to succeed in their interpersonal relationships.
What is Social Awareness?
Social Awareness is the capacity to see things from other people's perspectives and feel empathy for them, especially those with different origins and cultures. It's the ability to identify resources and supports from the community, school, and family as well as comprehend social and ethical norms for behavior. Social awareness is the ability to sympathetically take into account the viewpoints of individuals in one's immediate vicinity and use that understanding to inform one's speech and behavior when in a particular social setting.
Examples of being socially-aware: I can be friends with someone who doesn’t look or act like me. All skin colors are beautiful. Pink isn’t just for girls. I can have empathy for a student with a disability. My experience isn’t the only one.
Why is Social Awareness Important?
Social awareness is a crucial place to start for the enormous amount of work that has to be done, even though there is no immediate solution for bias, prejudice, and overt hate. The foundations of social justice include acknowledging diversity, respecting individual differences, understanding how one's actions impact other people, and lending a helping hand to those who are mistreated. Those abilities can be the foundation of a social justice campaign. It helps them see the world from many angles and teaches them how to get along with a wide range of people. It starts at home!
Practices to Strengthen Social Awareness at HOME:
1. Educate yourself and your child
Read books to your children that feature characters from a variety of backgrounds. It is important for students to perceive both themselves and individuals who are different from them in literature in order to foster empathy and consider many viewpoints.
2. Practice and Model Empathy and Compassion
Respect and kindness are immensely aided by compassion. We get patience from it as well. Imagine a moment when you were frustrated with your child; it's common to grow irritated with them. Still, empathy allows us to remember what motivates them and show them kindness. Like, "Yeah, they are going through (fill in the blank), which makes sense for why they are acting this way. So that things work out well for us, I'll make sure to (fill in the blank).”
3. Build Respect
It's critical to treat your kids with respect in addition to expecting them to do the same. Children who witness their parents treating them with respect are likely to feel appreciated and to reciprocate that regard. It's possible that you'll find a home where everyone values one another once respect has been built. You'll be able to coexist more amicably by sharing ideas, settling problems, and making decisions together.
4. Narrate Social Stories!
Utilize social narratives to explain the societal obligations. You and your child can talk about how to be sympathetic to various situations. You can make your own to suit your child better, or you can try these ideas:
Your classmate was called an inappropriate name based on their skin color. What will you do?
A classmate that has a physical disability is always picked last to play kickball at recess. Is it fair?
During group time, you think only boys can be the team leader and not girls. Is this okay?
For more strategies and ideas at home, you can also check this link:
As your child grows, Social Awareness matter. These skills will impact relationships and success in school, and various groups/activities along the way. Social-awareness is a teachable concept, and when taught at home, your children can start leaving their positive mark on their world!
One of our learning support teachers will explain another SEL competency— Relationship Skill—in next week's article. Stay tuned!
Written by: Mr. Jebbs (Learning Support Teacher – jebbs.ciocon@sph.ac.id)
