Children's Ability to Relate to Others Really Matters

Children's relationships with adults and peers provide a powerful social context that influences their behavior. Children observe and model the behaviors they see in others, especially close to them. Children's families, friends outside of school, schools, neighborhoods, and culture also provide powerful contexts from which they will development their social skills and intelligence. Children learn how to relate to one another and to adults by interacting with them. Children cannot learn what they need to become socially adept by interacting only with adults. Negotiating, sharing, and compromising are best learned from interactions with peers.