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The effects of social isolation on children remain a complex issue. There are a variety of situations that can lead to a child feeling isolated. The impact of the global pandemic has made this all the more visible. The pandemic has increased the number of children who experience isolation — many for the first time in their lives.
How do you identify feelings of social isolation in your children? This article will examine the symptoms, and causes of social isolation to help you better understand the issue and how to reduce its effects.
What is Social Isolation?
Social isolation is when someone feels excluded from others and experiences loneliness (WHO).
Effects of Social Isolation on a Child
Social isolation can stunt a child’s development in numerous ways. It can make children anxious in social settings and unable to interact with their peers or adults. It can also prevent a child from learning. Humans are social beings that learn from one another. Therefore, the lack of interaction can reduce momentum in academics as well as hinder social and emotional growth. Social isolation has also been linked to negative impacts on mental health.
Causes of Social Isolation
COVID-19
The most obvious instance of social isolation is lockdown and other social distancing measures we’ve navigated due to the pandemic (Let There Be Health). This way of living has made it difficult for children to interact with others, including their own family members.
Mental Health
Mental health such as depression and anxiety can cause social isolation. Anxiety is a prominent instance of this because a child may find social situations uncomfortable (Tulane University). Depression and hopelessness can also prevent a child from finding valid reasons to engage, meaning they withdraw as a result.
Learning Disabilities
Some children learn differently from others. For example, children with ADHD may find it difficult to interact with others. Sometimes, this is due to acting differently than their peers in social settings. Difficult interactions can make a child feel they don’t fit in and it can sometimes lead to bullying, which discourages them from engaging with their peers (Contemporary Pediatrics).
Identity
Children may struggle with their identity. They may find it hard to engage with others if they are aware of their differences, or if they simply feel they are different (Beyond Differences). It is important to create inclusive environments to reduce the anxieties and fears children feel regarding their identity.
Symptoms of Isolation
Social isolation can present a variety of symptoms. Symptoms and causes of social isolation have long been researched (Psychiatric Times). Below we explore these symptoms.
Anxiety
A worried child may act out, such as whine or talk back more than usual. Irritability is an indicator that a kid is uncomfortable and they may find it hard to verbalize their frustration directly. This frustration and lack of verbalization can lead to more serious consequences in the future. Spotting signs of anxiety and addressing these early on helps to prevent the child from developing depression and becoming a socially isolated adult later in life (National Geographic).
Hopelessness and Depression
If your child begins to find it difficult to think positively about situations, they may be experiencing symptoms of social isolation. They may begin to feel hopeless because they are unable to deal with uncertainty or unknown situations. These feelings can alter a child’s cognitive skills making learning more challenging (Edutopia).
Self Exclusion
This one may not be so obvious. When a child experiences social isolation they may start to exclude themselves more often because it becomes an expectation. If a child always feels they are going to be the last to get picked for group work in class, then they are likely to retreat from engaging with others. The less they engage, the less they get to know others around them. Their expectations are then met and they end up in a vicious cycle of isolating themselves (BBC).
The Amplification of Social Isolation
Contributing factors enhance the likelihood of experiencing social isolation. Children with either physical or mental disabilities are more likely to feel socially isolated (Contact). Therefore, it is especially important to help these children feel included.
How To Reduce the Effects of Social Isolation
Prolonged social isolation impacts the mind, mood, and even the body. Therefore, it’s important to reduce the effects. Here are just some ways to help children deal with social isolation:
1. Create new ways to come together. Due to the pandemic, engagement is entirely different than it used to be. Children may be distance learning, or if they are learning in person, they are wearing masks and are socially distanced. Therefore, it’s important to create new ways to interact with friends online or in a small playgroup. Children need more interactions outside of school to help them cope.
2. Help children experience mindfulness. Mindfulness is about staying in the moment and not worrying about the future. It eliminates what-ifs and creates a sense of peace and calm (Rush.edu). Helping children to cut themselves some slack and stay grounded, helps them to deal with the impact of social isolation.
3. Encourage them to play outdoors. Staying indoors can amplify feelings of claustrophobia, and going outside can relieve that shut-in feeling. Getting some vitamin D may be just what they need. Vitamin D is a mood booster and has been linked with reducing depression (Healthline).
4. Engage in inclusivity programs. Inclusivity programs can help children feel less socially isolated due to physical or mental differences. These programs also help prevent bullying and intolerance, which means fewer children will experience social isolation caused by others.
5. Communicate with them. Let your child know that you are aware of additional stresses due to social isolation. Be available to listen when they need to vent so they know they have you to lean on.
It is often assumed that children are quick to bounce back from difficult situations by default. People tend to think kids have less stress and worries than adults. However, this is not the case. It’s important to implement actionable strategies to help your children grow into more resilient human beings. Emotional resilience is something that requires development. When children are resilient, it reduces anxiety and allows them to cope in healthy ways with life’s ups and downs. Additionally, this is a skill that is necessary in adulthood. In this article, we’ll provide ideas to nurture building emotional resilience in kids.
What is Emotional Resilience
Emotional resilience is defined by the American Psychological Association (APA) as the ability to adapt to adverse, traumatic, or tragic events. It is a life skill to cope well with stress, anxiety, and emotional pain. For kids, this can come in a variety of situations from minor to more challenging cases.
Minor events that may trigger stress in children can include falling out with friends, taking tests, or managing difficult emotions. Major events that create stress can include moving houses, divorce, bullying, or dealing with the impact of COVID-19.
Building emotional resilience in kids is important because you cannot always be around to solve problems for them. Children must learn to cope with minor problems to help them when coping with major ones in the future. Teaching emotional resilience to kids helps them to lead a healthy, fulfilling life.
The Fulcrum of Resilience
There have been various depictions of emotional resilience in the academic community. Harvard furnishes the image of a seesaw with positive and negative outcomes, all balanced on a fulcrum. Even if a child has more negative outcomes than positive ones, as long as they have coping skills and some positive outcomes, this can shift their fulcrum. According to Harvard, “Protective experiences and coping skills on one side counterbalance significant adversity on the other. Resilience is evident when a child’s health and development tips toward positive outcomes — even when a heavy load of factors is stacked on the negative outcome side.”
We cannot always protect children from stressful events. However, we can teach children emotional resilience to make it easier for them to overcome problems when they occur.
How to Build Emotional Resilience
There are many different methods and strategies to help build emotional resilience in kids. The most common factor in children who are emotionally resilient is at least one stable, loving, and supportive relationship with a parent, caregiver, or other adult. These relationships have the benefit of buffering developmental disruption (Harvard).
The list below offers some examples and scenarios to help you identify when opportunities arise to nurture emotional resilience:
Discuss the child’s feelings with them. When children face complex emotions, they might struggle to communicate their feelings. Use these situations as a chance for them to learn about resilience. For example, cancelled plans can lead to a child feeling disappointed and confused. Use this as leverage to explain that disappointment is a natural feeling and that they can expect to feel the same again in the future. Share times when you felt disappointed or let down to demonstrate that you can get over these kinds of feelings. Modeling emotional resilience and how to express feelings in a healthy way teaches your child how to do the same.
Try not to rush a child’s feelings. This can create false expectations. It is important to teach children that getting over negative feelings can take time. Help them understand that patience is vital to recovery. The pandemic has made it difficult to provide certainty to all our lives and children are no exception. Help them to take things one day at a time so they can manage unknowns at a reasonable pace.
Create milestones and goals. Breaking down resilience into small steps will help a child to have something to look forward to. It also helps them understand that resilience is a process.
Help the child learn to accept change. Many situations in life are hard to control, no matter who you are or how resilient you have become. Encouraging children to accept change will enable them to build a more resilient attitude. Moving from elementary school to middle school is a common example of this. Focusing on the new and exciting journey they are embarking on will help them recognise a positive outlook rather than draw attention to what they have lost.
Step back. We want to protect our kids from bad experiences. However, too much intervention may be detrimental to building resilience. Children must learn self efficacy to become more resilient individuals. This means supporting them where they need help, but making sure they have opportunities to find solutions by themselves. For example, if a kid falls out with their best friend, then point them in the direction of apologising or playing with others rather than picking up the phone yourself to call the best friend’s parents or getting teachers involved.
Parental Strategies for Building Emotional Resilience in Kids
Spend one on one time with your child. Try spending 15 minutes reading to them every day, and playing their favorite board games. Other ways to build connection include floor play for younger children, cooking together, and creating art. For older children, card or board games, finding a family hobby, and playing music together are great options. Children who feel like they have an adult they can rely on tend to experience greater emotional resilience.
Model emotional resilience. For example, if you are faced with a difficult life situation, show your child how to cope. Use tools like therapy, talking about feelings, and developing a self care routine. When kids see healthy ways of coping, they learn how to develop their own resiliency.
Help kids keep a hopeful outlook despite tough times. Some strategies for this include maintaining as much normalcy as possible and fostering conversations to express their feelings. Some other tools include encouraging your child to talk about positive events and starting a family gratitude journal.
Make monthly or yearly goals to help build confidence and resilience. Have your child write down goals. The goals should be measurable and reasonable for maximum success. By writing goals as a family and individually, and then following up for accountability, the whole family will become more connected.
Keep the environment as similar as possible. Give as much warning before a change as possible. This will help your child to cope. Similarly, take time to talk to your child about the changes that are occurring and listen to their feelings.
Sometimes, it is necessary to step back to let children learn coping skills. This strategy requires self restraint as a parent or guardian. However, it is necessary for developing their coping skills.
Resilience is like a muscle and must be exercised. The more children are able to exercise their coping skills to everyday life, the more resilient they will be.
With the school year underway, it’s time to talk about conflict resolution for kids. The pandemic has made it difficult for children to engage with each other. Therefore, many have missed out on crucial opportunities to build and develop their skills for dealing with conflict.
Teaching kids about how to resolve difficult situations is important because it equips them with resilience and confidence.
Conflict Resolution For Kids
Conflict resolution education is the act of instilling problem-solving skills in children who are in a dispute. Teaching children about conflict helps them to identify problems. It also helps them choose the best solutions on their own.
A good place to start is demonstrating that problems start small and tend to grow. Teaching them to identify problems as soon as they take place makes it easier for kids to quickly overcome the obstacles they face.
Sometimes problems may go unnoticed in the early stages. This can lead to emotions becoming more intense. Therefore, it is important to teach children about their feelings. Having them identify their own emotions will also enable them to understand the emotions of others around them.
In cases where conflict has snowballed into a large problem, it is imperative that children understand responsibility as well as compromise. Knowing that conflict is a two-way street will encourage kids to act and will enable them to preserve their friendships when things go wrong. Practicing compromise will also help to resolve conflicts where children are not destined to be the best of friends. This will help create a peaceful environment and a productive learning space for everyone.
Occasionally two students will not be able to come to a satisfactory conclusion with their problem. There will be times, even though we want them to figure it out on their own, when adults have to step in and guide them further. Reassure your kids and students that they are able to talk to you about their problems.
Conflict Resolution Strategies in the Classroom
Students need to find strategies for resolving different forms of disagreement. Four major conflict resolution strategies identified by educators are: mediation, process curriculum, peaceable classrooms, and peaceable schools.
Mediation
Many schools use peer mediation programs to reduce conflict. Students have the opportunity to talk through conflicts with trained students or adult mediators. Mediation programs are put in place to reduce punishments such as suspension or detention. Learn about Soul Shoppe’s Peacemakers program.
Process Curriculum
Some schools dedicate an entire course to conflict resolution. This is called process curriculum. It introduces problem scenarios before a conflict ever arises.
Peaceable Classrooms
Peaceable classrooms integrate conflict resolution into the classroom daily through classroom management and daily tasks. This is not a separate curriculum but brings a lifestyle approach to teaching conflict resolution. This approach reinforces cooperation and the acceptance of diversity. It also teaches caring and effective communication.
Peaceable Schools
In peaceable schools, all three of the above approaches are implemented. Everyone in the school including teachers, students, and administrators work together to remain proactive about conflict.
These four conflict resolution strategies work together to reduce school absences, decrease referrals and suspensions while increasing self-confidence and self-respect among students.
Conflict Resolution Activities for Kids
Conflict resolution for kids can also be fun. Here are some easy activities to get kids thinking and learning about conflict resolution:
Brainstorm solutions to specific conflicts with your kids. Preparation will help them when any conflict arises. It will also help you gauge how much work you need to do to develop a child’s conflict resolution skills.
Fill a mason jar full of popsicle sticks with solutions to problems. When a child is finding it difficult to find a way to resolve their issues, they can take a stick from the jar and try that. Kids will learn to think on their feet and use the jar less over time.
Create stories individually or in groups. Ask the kids to think about a story that involves conflict and an ending with a solution. They can present the stories to the rest of the class or to their siblings if done at home.
Tip: Reward good conflict resolution by sending a letter home or by creating a gold-star chart.
Conflict Resolution Games for Kids
Gamifying a child’s learning is a good way to create a rewarding environment that will help to create a lasting impact. Here are some ideas you can use in the classroom or at home:
Role-playing is a fun way for children to safely engage in conflict situations. This can be done with each other or with an adult for more challenging conflict scenarios.
Create a simple game of pairs where children have to match the conflict to the solution.
Play problem-solving baseball. This game is great for more complex conflict situations. Start with the conflict and then work through each base until they reach the solution.
Conflict resolution for kids is imperative for social and emotional success. Soul Shoppe provides conflict resolution training for educators through our Peacemakers program. The Peacemakers program aims to create schools where children are empathetic and peace thrives.
Online learning shook up the way educators had to think about building community in the classroom. The effects of lockdowns and social distancing have created an aftershock that’s still present. Creating a sense of community and belonging has never been more important as students are more distanced than before the pandemic.
Building community in the classroom is vital because it allows students to form positive relationships and feel included. It also teaches them social skills and collaboration.
In this article, we’ll explore activities that help to build community in the classroom. We’ll also identify characteristics of successful community building to evaluate implementation.
How do you build community in the classroom
Building community in the classroom is more than assigning group work or teams. A community is created through sharing. Shared beliefs, shared values, shared ideas or attitudes all play a part. While classrooms are shared spaces, that doesn’t mean learners share the same ideals. When fostering community, it is important to encourage sharing, even when this leads to disagreement.
When utilizing small groups, sometimes it is best to let children choose their own groups to give them more autonomy. However, it is also important to assign groups on other occasions to get students interacting, who might not otherwise talk on the playground.
Community is about sharing but it’s also about compromise. This means that the best approach to building community is both fostering existing relationships and developing new ones. Use a balanced approach and keep it fresh.
Online learning and classroom community
Online learning can make it difficult to replicate the methods used in classrooms pre-pandemic. Missing from virtual learning is the opportunity for children to regularly converse in small groups, not only to learn but also to develop their social skills. While some teachers do their best to create small group opportunities, there are fewer of them, and interaction is often limited. Social interactions are sometimes limited to typing on a keyboard or “raising” a virtual hand. While teachers work to nurture discussion, some students are less responsive to the new medium.
When online learning is present, it’s important to utilize breakout rooms and create social games to give students a sense of connection. Icebreakers like human bingo, where children record a short video introduction, and students must match listed interests on a bingo board to a name, are a great way to promote classroom community. In this activity, students discuss answers through microphones and typed messages. Find more examples of virtual social learning activities, here.
Activities to build community in the classroom
There are methods for creating community in the classroom that can be used both offline and online. Here are core ideas to create classroom community activities:
Create classroom goals and rules together. To promote teamwork and community, have students help create group goals and rules together. This creates a shared purpose.
Encourage your classroom to discuss their ideas. Through sharing beliefs and values or even approaches and methods, children are able to understand more about each other. They can also figure out their own position within a team. This helps them to become more aware and mindful in general. It also helps to combat assumptions to enable children to learn, rather than make judgments.
Develop social awareness. Children require knowledge about their peers. They need to understand that differences are common parts of life and can be celebrated. Use a range of tools such as stories relevant to younger people to give them reference points and something to identify with. Implement games that encourage children to discuss likenesses and differences. That’s Me is a game where the teacher makes a statement, such as “I have a brother” and the children who can relate, chime in and say “that’s me” if it applies to them. Implement social icebreakers regularly throughout the year, rather than restricting to the beginning of the year. More substantive interactions may occur when used more frequently.
Develop emotional awareness. Children need to grasp their own feelings to manage them. This also helps them to understand others through empathy. Ask your class to get introspective with creative writing and role play. Using their own feelings and emotions, and collaborating or sharing this with others will develop their personal and social awareness. Playing “Feelings Charades” where a child demonstrates an emotion and students guess the emotion is one activity that promotes emotional awareness.
Take inspiration from businesses. Businesses are always looking to improve their working communities through team-building exercises. These are fantastic opportunities to create a social learning environment. Adapt online team-building games and activities meant for business to the classroom.
How to identify characteristics of classroom community
Characteristics of classroom community can be identified in multiple ways. Look for these moments to confirm that a classroom has indeed become a community.
Note whether classmates are answering questions for others. Not only does this take a bit of pressure off of you as a teacher, but it also demonstrates that kids are willing to share with one another.
Take moments to discuss things beyond the curriculum. If children are sharing details about their personal lives it shows that they are comfortable with each other. It also helps them to build trust because they begin to understand their differences and build their empathy skills.
Use self-reflection to measure how well activities are working. After working in a group, children can fill out a worksheet to detail what they have learned, how they have learned it, and also indicate areas of improvement. This helps you plan future sessions that incorporate community building activities.
Identify leaders in the classroom. Children might not always be confident in taking charge. Assigning a group leader, especially ones that wouldn’t normally occupy this position, gives them the opportunity to develop leadership skills and show that they are willing to engage. It also prevents children from being excluded when more confident kids automatically fill these roles. It’s a balancing act where you may reward natural leaders but also persuade others to take on the challenge.
A culture of inclusion is defined as creating and maintaining an environment in which people of different backgrounds can achieve their fullest potential (Harvard). It is a culture where different strengths are valued and celebrated. Whether in schools or in the workplace, building a culture of inclusion benefits both students/workers and the classroom/organization as a whole.
The Difference Between Diversity and a Culture of Inclusion
Though a culture of inclusion and diversity can sound similar, they are very different. You can have a diverse classroom or work environment and still not have a culture of inclusion. Diversity is simply referring to demographics. A culture of inclusion means that everyone is contributing their different voices, ideas and experiences to the overall classroom or workplace culture. This contribution supports a richer and more successful environment.
How to Create a Culture of Inclusion
Importance of Respect and Empathy
Empathy is a critical skill and a building block of creating a culture of diversity and inclusion. It is defined as the ability to emotionally understand the feelings of another. Commonly, it is described as being able to “walk in another person’s shoes.” This skill is necessary in order to create emotional growth, as well as a culture of compassion and connection. When people learn empathy, they are better able to respect other people’s thoughts, feelings, and world experiences. It is a transformative skill that changes our behaviors and the way we see others. Consequently, this is a strong focus of creating a culture of inclusion.
Culture of Inclusion in Schools
Creating a culture of inclusion in schools is important because it’s the main place young people will learn and emulate team behaviors. They are likely to carry these behaviors into the workforce and society as a whole. In addition, a culture of inclusion creates a safe classroom environment where children from all backgrounds can academically thrive.
Building a culture of inclusion in schools requires all stakeholders to share responsibility for inclusion. Some ideas for creating a more inclusive culture include:
Anti-bullying workshops
Diversity training
Writing a value statement
However, it goes beyond that. Even when enacting inclusive policies and practices, inclusive culture requires a shift of attitude. The entire school must embrace it and share the responsibility for it to come to fruition. This is where empathy and teamwork is important. Building a culture of inclusion takes everyone.
How to Promote Inclusion in the Workplace
Community building in the workplace is an important aspect of cultural inclusion. Workplace community is the culture of a company and its morale. It is influenced by individual perspectives and experiences. Therefore, it is critical that the workplace community is safe, productive, and cohesive. When workplace culture is positive, employees bring their authentic selves to the team and value their work. In order to build community, a sense of belonging and connection is required. This can be done by appreciating individual and group contributions, and being responsive to employee concerns. Similarly, holding spaces to listen to employees is necessary. Inclusive behaviors in the workplace begin at the leadership level first. Leaders can model empathy in their daily interactions, which demonstrates how employees should act. Actively demonstrating empathy and respect, helps businesses and individuals to thrive.
Creating policies that promote inclusiveness is an important first step. In addition to policies, empowering team members to solve problems and come up with new ideas promotes inclusiveness. Along with empowerment, a work culture that promotes courage is one that fosters inclusiveness. Employees should feel they can stand up for what they believe in. Lastly, promoting humility in the workplace is important for creating a positive workplace culture. Humility allows team members the ability to take constructive criticism and overcome limited viewpoints by listening to others.
Conclusion
Building a culture of inclusion is more than just a one time training event. It is creating a shift in the overall culture. It requires commitment from everyone from leaders to employees to students alike. By creating positive environments that foster empowerment, humility and courage, both schools and workplaces are more likely to succeed.
Whether you want to improve your school, community, or workplace, Soul Shoppe provides social emotional learning programs and resources. We offer programs on cultural inclusion from teacher professional development to workplace culture training. Our team is highly trained, informative, and makes training fun. We offer a transformative experience that will leave lasting results.
Last month we took some time to share appreciation and gratitude for educators everywhere with our first ever virtual event. If you were on call, you know how surprisingly connected we all felt thanks to Adorable’s guided meditation and the musical talent of our special guest,
We also learned how to empty our over-full balloons. There is so much happening in the world, in our classrooms, and in our homes that sometimes we can forget to take a breath. Having a chance to just slow down and feel, then share our feelings was a powerful and healing experience.
Thank you to those of you that joined us, and if you didn’t have the chance to participate, you can watch our recap video here.
