Social Development Characteristics of the Child
The child’s ability to communicate with his environment, to gain sensitivity to social stimuli, to learn the values and rules of the society he lives in, to develop appropriate behaviors, and to gain the skills to express himself are the steps of social development. The social development of the baby, who prefers to be among people from the moment of birth and is sensitive to human faces, begins when he is born. The first source of social development is the mother, then as the baby grows and his/her communication skills increase, their ability to adjust their behavior in accordance with the environment, to understand the thoughts and behaviors of the other person and to express themselves develops.
Taking the baby/child to different environments and accustoming them to spending time with their peers is important to support social development. In addition, knowing the course of social development will help to take the right steps.
From the list below, you can follow the social development course of 0-6 years old and learn what to expect from your child in which months.
0 Month Baby Social Development
– Focusing, touching and eye contact while breastfeeding or feeding the baby lays the first foundations of social-development.
– While breastfeeding, the mother can touch the mother’s face and breast when she bends towards the baby.
– A mother-baby bond is established with mutual eye contact.
– A sense of trust begins to form.
1 Month Baby Social Development
– A smile begins, even if it is not a social smile.
2 Months Old Baby Social Development
– Begins to communicate with parents by making different sounds without crying.
– She can make eye contact with the person holding her in her lap, breastfeeding, feeding her and meeting her needs.
– He is interested in human faces, especially the mother’s face, human voices, especially the mother’s voice.
– When he is contacted, he responds by making sounds when he is interested, and smiles.
3 Month Old Baby Social Development
– Can make eye contact for a long time.
– He smiles at anyone who smiles.
– He gets excited when people’s faces approach him.
4 Months Old Baby Social Development
– He can watch people with whom he makes eye contact.
– The baby gives the impression of recognizing the face of relatives such as father / caregiver, especially the mother.
– He smiles enthusiastically when he sees his mother.
5 Month Old Baby Social Development
– He likes to be touched and massaged.
– Begins to recognize parents and relatives.
– He gets excited when he sees his parents.
– He calms down when he hears the voice of his parents crying.
– Ce-e can play the game.
– Begins to distinguish his parents’ faces from strangers’ faces.
– When he sees strangers, he may start to get startled and restless.
6 Month Old Baby Social Development
– As in the previous period, he gets excited and happy when he sees a familiar face or hears a familiar voice.
– He gets restless when he sees a stranger.
– He may throw the toys he has picked up on the ground, start to look as if he wants someone to take the toy he has thrown.
7 Months Old Baby Social Development
– He doesn’t like to be alone.
– He is happy to play games with people he knows.
– Begins to be shy with strangers.
– She likes having kids around.
– He tries to attract attention by making different sounds when the adults next to him are talking.
– He is happy when he receives attention.
– Wants to applaud, sometimes clap for himself.
8 Months Old Baby Social Development
– When children approach him, he may start to get excited and move.
– He smiles and flirts when he sees someone he knows.
– May be afraid of strangers.
– He may not want to give the toy he has, he cries when it is taken.
– Reacts when blocked.
– Expresses his feelings with facial expressions and can understand the feelings of the other person.
– While he did not cry while leaving his mother in the previous months, he starts to cry this month.
9 Months Old Baby Social Development
– In this month, he can start expressing his wishes without crying, sitting on the high chair or on the floor and waiting for the toys that he throws while playing, to be taken by the adult playing with him.
– He can now clap with the adult in front of him, and even clap for himself when singing a song, when he succeeds in a game.
– When leaving an environment, he touches his head for “head-to-head” and can communicate with the adult by waving his hand for “bye-bye”.
– When children approach him, he may start to get excited and move. A familiar adult approaching him, on the other hand, can make jokes by smiling.
– While sitting on the floor, he can make a move to go towards a child next to him.
– Starting from this month, the baby may hold tight when trying to take the toy from his hand, and may cry when it is forcibly taken from his hand. She may yell and cry when blocked when she goes to areas that her parents do not allow to touch.
10 Months Old Baby Social Development
– He likes to be applauded.
– The behavior of avoiding foreigners, which has started in the last months, continues this month as well.
– Begins to prefer some toys over others.
– He likes when children come to him while playing in the park or in the garden.
11 Months Old Baby Social Development
– He can express what he wants with the sounds he makes and the movements he makes.
– He repeats his parents’ gestures such as clapping hands.
– He smiles at those who smile, laughs at those who laugh.
– He demands constant attention.
– He can express his wishes without crying.
1 Year Old Child Social Development Characteristics
– He is ready to spend time together, even if he does not play with other children yet.
– It can be separated from the mother in a short time.
– He always wants attention, becomes unhappy when he loses interest.
13-15 Months Baby Social Development
– When he imitates, expresses himself with a sign, makes a sound, he waits for approval and applause.
– He wants his actions to be watched.
– He doesn’t get enough of attention, he doesn’t want anyone to leave his room, he wants the player to continue playing.
16-18 Months Old Baby Social Development
– Understands speech and instructions.
– It helps to collect toys, dress up their clothes.
– He can tell whether he wants something or not with signs and gestures.
– He still gets nervous from strangers.
19-21 Months Old Baby Social Development
– The need for friends begins to form.
– While spending time with his own age group, he can sometimes just watch them, sometimes stand next to each other and engage in different games.
– He has friends he enjoys playing with more.
– While trying to take the toy from another child’s hand, he tries to hide his own.
– Apart from the mother/father/caregiver, the number of adults he enjoys being with and playing with may also increase.
– Begins to get used to strangers.
Social Development Characteristics of a 2-Year-Old Child
– Can play with a child for a short time under adult supervision, stand in a group of children.
– Can carry out some adult commands.
– He may not want to share some of his toys. While sharing toys with one child, they may not want to share with another child.
– He can play side by side with other children, but he has not yet fully started to play together.
– May want to do activities such as eating and washing hands on their own.
Social Development Characteristics of 25-30 Months-Old Child
– When he goes to the park/garden, the children there may start to be interested.
– The child who plays house, school, doctor with adults can play short-term market and repair games with his/her peers.
– He can distract himself for a short time.
– Good at holding spoon and eating, can eat by himself.
– Can take off clothes such as shoes, socks, hats without help.
– He can give notice before he pees and poops.
Social Development Characteristics of a 3-Year-Old Child
– Begins to play with peers.
– They can act together with their peers in the given instructions.
– He often has disagreements with his friends, there may be quarrels, but it is short-lived.
– May not want to share.
Social Development Characteristics of 37-42 Months-Old Child
– Can predict the movements of the opponent.
– Begins to learn kindness, empathy, respect and sharing with others.
– He is ready to learn to protect his own rights.
– Learns to choose and decide.
– He can make new friends.
– They learn to share their games with other children, to wait their turn, to win and lose, to respect the rights of others, to protect their own rights, to accept the proposed game, to say the game they want.
– Develops imagination and role-playing skills.
Social Development Characteristics of a 4-Year-Old Child
– Learns daily routines and rules.
– He may be cocky and bossy to his peers and may whine and cause problems when he cannot do what they want.
– Develops sense of humor.
– If there are no peers around to play with, they may have imaginary friends.
– He can invite his friends to his house, go to their house.
– Independent and stubborn.
– May begin to use slang words.
Social Development Characteristics of 49-54 Months-Old Child
– Can take responsibilities appropriate to his age.
– Begins to learn to delay and wait for what they want
– He is intolerant of losing. In the games with rules, there is often a tendency to whine and change the rule, winning is at the forefront.
– He enjoys group games.
– Needs adult supervision in group games.
– While the scenarios in the role-playing games in the previous months were simple, as his imagination develops, he produces more detailed scenarios and even includes those around him that may be as well as possible.
– May have difficulty distinguishing between truth and joke. May show irritability when joked with.
Social Development Characteristics of a 5-Year-Old Child
– Increases awareness of his own personality.
– Begins to distinguish between reality and fantasy.
– When his friends come, he forgets about his surroundings and is completely immersed in the game.
– Begins to listen quietly and patiently to the person speaking.
– Beside the people he cares about; Talking about well-developed features and positive behaviors strengthens positive self-perception and makes one feel valuable. He also becomes more willing and enthusiastic to maintain his positive behaviors.
– May notice absurd details about familiar topics.
– Develops social reasoning skills.
Social Development Characteristics of a 61-65 Months-Old Child
– He is egocentric.
– Easy to make friends, play together, share.
– Leads when necessary and follows the leader when necessary.
– Waits his turn; respects the rights of others, if he obeys the rules of courtesy, he seeks the approval of adults and expects appreciation.
– Asks questions about the boy/girl body and how babies are formed.
– Care should be taken to keep the doors closed while undressing, changing, washing, and not to enter without asking permission, thus creating a concept of privacy for children.
– At this age, the child can express his feelings, understand the feelings of others, and put himself in the shoes of others.
Social Development Characteristics of a 66-72 Months-Old Child
– Can play with the group.
– Makes short-term friendships.
– He chooses his close friends from his own gender, imitates his friends.
– He has an intense need for one-on-one attention from people he cares about.
– Competes with friends.
– He has great interest and admiration for his teacher.
– Tends to engage in power struggles with authority.
– He can find solutions to the problems he has with his friends and other people.
– Negatively affected by teasing and jokes.