Social Skills Development Lessons
When I started college I was not sure what I wanted to major in for my career. I had enjoyed accounting in high school; however I thought that a career working with numbers might be dull. During my sophomore year of college my father had a heart attack and was hospitalized with open heart surgery. He had several complications and needed to be in the hospital for several weeks. My sisters all had children that they were taking care of so it was decided that I would be the one to stay with my mom at the hospital with dad. The hospital that he was staying in was seventy five miles from their home.
Being with my mom in the hospital was my first exposure to social workers. My dad had to be moved to a rehabilitation unit once he was stabilized and the social worker met with mom and me to make these arrangements. Once dad was better I met with the dean of the social work program and decided that this would be my field of study. During one of my field experience classes I volunteered at the boys and girls club. One of my duties was to teach social skills lessons to the kids that were in the after school club. These kids needed a place to stay while their parents were working. Many of them came from single parent families and they had not been taught social skills lessons at home.
When I was first asked to do this I found it quite intimidating. I was only nineteen years old and I did not have any education classes. I looked at the curriculum that they had on the subject. To my surprise the social skills lessons that they wanted me to teach were basic manners. My mother is a real stickler on manners and social graces, so I thought this would be something that I would be able to teach. I asked if I could bring in props for the lessons. I was told that I could do what ever I wanted as long as the children kept the noise level down and that they stayed in the assigned area. The social skills lessons were to be taught over a six week period of time two days each week.
The first week I had them practice shaking hands with each other and greeting each other. The next week I brought in peanut butter and crackers and had them practice table manners. The kids and I had a great deal of fun during the six week course. Teaching social skills lessons is something that I have done throughout my career as a social worker.