How to be Social in a Not So Social Environment

COVID-19 has undoubtedly affected our abilities to gather and socialize with one another in a typical way. However, socializing and maintaining friendships and relationships is important for people of all ages so that we may not feel so alone in these uncertain and sometimes scary times. While keeping in mind the CDC guidelines (i.e., social distancing, wearing masks, sanitizing/washing hands) for protecting ourselves and others from getting COVID-19 there are still ways to socialize safely.

1. If you or your child is missing their friends on a Friday night and like movies, there is a wonderful chrome extension apps called teleparty and twoseven which allow you to stream movies at the same time while chatting about it.
   1. Teleparty is a free app that allows you and your friends to watch videos simultaneously while chatting through text with the following streaming platforms: Netflix, Disney, Hulu and HBO. You can get more info and download the app through this link: https://www.netflixparty.com/.
   2. Twoseven is a chrome extension that synchronizes videos for you on various platforms and allows you to chat with others through webcams to see one another’s live reactions. You can get started with twoseven through this link: https://twoseven.xyz/.
2. You can go on a social distance walk or hike while staying 6 feet apart from your friends and wearing a mask if you are craving some fresh air and want to stay active. Going on a socially distant walk or hike permits you to socialize without the use of technology and brings a sense of normalcy as you can see one another and interact from a distance. Here are some walking/hiking trails in the east bay that are open, have wider paths, and beautiful scenery: Sycamore Grove in Livermore, CA, Las Trampas Regional Park in San Ramon, Del Valle Regional Park in Livermore, CA, and Brushy Peak Regional Preserve in Livermore, CA.

 How to Work on Social Skills at Home With Your Child

1. Play turn-taking games such as: Jenga, Connect-4, Candyland, Uno, Go Fish, or Don’t Break The Ice. Simple turn taking board games require children to listen, attend to others, and increase patience which are all important social skills that are a prerequisite for other conversational skills.
2. Engage in pretend play with your child (e.g., dress-up, playing with toy babies/dolls, cooking sets) to work on a variety of social and language skills. For example, you can work on problem solving during pretend play by acting out different scenarios, such as using a toy doctor kit and pretending your hurt and asking your child how they can help you feel better.
3. There are various emotion games to play at home with your child to help increase their social emotional skills. Using games to talk about emotions makes it fun and engaging for the child all while learning about different feelings. Being able to identify and understand emotions in others enables us to create meaningful relationships and develop empathy. Here are some game titles: The Emotions Game – Board Game on Etsy, Emotion-oes available through amazon or Walmart online, and Feelings and Dealings or My Feelings Game on Maxedbuy.com.
4. Being more socially isolated over this past year has led us all to focus more on ourselves, which has had its benefits as well as downsides. Encourage them to do kind things for others, while staying socially-distanced (e.g. making a card to send in the mail or making some art to give to a friend or neighbor). With a little bit of guidance from you, they can probably think of some amazing ways to spread kindness to others during this crazy time!
5. Read your child books about being a friend so that when things get more “back to normal” they haven’t forgotten what expected on their part in a friendship: How To Be A Friend (by Laurie Krasny Brown and Marc Brown) and Making Friends Is An Art (by Julia Cook)
6. Engage in conversations at home by talking about a topic that your child is interested in. During these conversations you can model appropriate conversational skills such as turn-taking, eye contact, making related comments, and asking follow-up questions. Starting by practicing conversation based off their interests is important as they may have more to say and enjoy having the conversation while learning new skills.
7. Lastly, you can encourage your child to talk to others whether it’s family members through facetime, google hangouts, or friends on the phone. This will help them learn how to maintain relationships in different ways when seeing each other in person isn’t the safest option while practicing their conversational skills. If they don’t know what to talk about you can help by giving them topic ideas before the phone call to help them initiate conversation with others.