Emotional and mental discourse as a basis for social skills

  

“The monkey has a banana. The monkey loves bananas,

but his friend does not have a banana - and he looks quite hungry… ”

 

Theory of mind includes the ability of human beings to understand human behavior and social interactions between human beings. This ability develops in the first years of life, and includes the understanding that a particular person's mental state motivates his or her visible behavior.

In children with normal development, the basis for this ability develops during the first years of life. Studies suggest a link between developing mental understanding and various social skills, such as the ability to resolve conflicts with social or joint planning during play.

It is now argued that an important condition for the early development of this ability in children is rich verbal social experiences, which include exposure to diverse expressions about different mental states of the children themselves, and of people in their environment.

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How can a child be helped to develop the inner world's understanding abilities of the people around him?

Talk to the child from a young age about your feelings and his feelings: "You are sad to say goodbye to grandparents", "I am excited for the trip".

During a confrontation with a friend, emphasize the inner world of those present in the situation as a basis for seeking social solution: "You want to swing hard, but Idan is afraid of rocking hard," "You want to play ball, but Michal also wants to play ball, what do we do?"

 Talk about different beliefs and thoughts, even if they are wrong: "I thought it would be cold today, but I was wrong", "You knew the shoe was torn, but I did not know."

 Talk about the different preferences of people around the child: "Rona likes to eat pizza, but Shira doesn't like it." "You like to see Fiji power, but Yaeli likes to see Adventure Bay."

 When a person around the child shows an external sign of emotion, talk to the child about the emotion that is expressed: "Ron smiles because he is happy to receive a gift", "Uri looks down because he is ashamed".

Encourage emotional and mental discourse while reading a joint book: "The monkey lost his mother, how do you think he feels?", "Ayelet came home with lots of animals, what do you think her mother thinks?", "You think Ayelet's mother was surprised to see so many Animals outside the house? ”