3 Ways to Incorporate Social Skills Into Your Child’s Life

By Jagmeet Kaur Sangha SPECIAL TO THE FORUM

Afew weeks ago, the Castro Valley Rotary hosted a car show where many different vendors and service providers gathered.

In one of the booths, young children from the local Girl and Boy Scout troops gave away free lemonade. They approached the crowd with smiles, confidence, and determination, making their lemonade stand a hit.

As I observed them, I noticed how many soft skills they were practicing while having a blast! Little did they know that the few hours they spent on this activity could significantly impact their overall development and future success in various areas of their life, including the workplace.

“Soft skills” are a variety of character traits and interpersonal abilities in different domains, such as communication, teamwork, problem-solving, flexibility, and time management. Research from the Carnegie Mellon Foundation, Stanford Research Center, and Harvard University found that 85 percent of long-term job success depends on soft skills, while only 15 percent is based on an individual’s technical knowledge. But how often do you hear about our children studying their “soft skills?” Fortunately, practicing these abilities is not as hard as you might think since learning opportunities can be incorporated into our everyday lives.