Role of family in promoting social skills

"Families are the compass that guides us. They are the inspiration to reach great heights, and our comfort when we occasionally falter"-This remark of Brad Henry emphasized the significance of families. But in the due course of time in the struggle of life, these families have become more nuclear and secluded from their elders. The children of these families forced to join in the childcare centres and pre-schools according to their ages and losing the comfort of relationships. After this, they are admitted into the schools that will focus only on scholastic achievement ignoring the social skills. This is making the younger generation more self-centred and timorous. To overcome the dearth of relationship factor they are making friendship with the opposite sex instantly and committing loathsome acts.

A IX class girl of Karnataka killed her father for warning her not to move more intimately with her boyfriend cruelly with the help of the same friend; A 5th class boy kills his friend for insulting his mother; A boy killed himself influenced by a digital game; A teenage boy making his best girlfriend as captive to molest her with the help of his mates and filmed the same with mobile to upload; This type of news is fluttering across all types of media and it has become a tough task for the society and to the state to check these uncivilized crimes.

In our country rise of this type of crimes reflect our failure to supply the social skills that are very useful for the harmonious living. We are all aware that human beings are social beings and they need certain skills to live in the same. For the socialisation of the man there are certain social agencies such as family, school and society. It seems that the very first agency "family "role has become a nominal one and producing the young generations that are not fit survive in diverse situations with an adaptability.

We are all well aware of that "socialization" is a process through the transmission of culture takes place one generation from to the other. The generation "Y' receives the habits, values, attitudes, manners, customs and the social beliefs of a group in which he has born. In this process family plays a vital role in the socialization process by promoting the significance of the relations with others and shaping up the personality of younger generations by the way of informal control. It is noticeable the parents, elders, peers of the family always check the undesirable behaviour of the younger tribe and rectify their undoing.

It was rightly remarked by Robert. K. Merton, "it is the family which is a major transmission belt for the diffusion of cultural standards to the oncoming generation". This process has now stopped up in the family because the child is forced to spend more time with other than family members that is promoting the scarcity of social skills. "The family is the first essential cell of human society." - Pope John XXIII. This remark laid its emphasis on the importance of the family in the development of a harmonious society. To change the existing scenario in the society we need the co-operation of the parents for accepting a small change in their parenting attitude.

They have to rethink and resize about the aspirations on their kids and train them good human beings rather than selfish. It is very indispensable for them to revisit their childhood days and have to compare the variation in bringing up the child. Here, I have been compelled to recollect the greatest remark of Mahatma Gandhi "There is no school equal to a decent home and no teacher equal to a virtuous parent". But, today's parent is much uncertain about their kids future in this competition prone world and making them caged for educating but ignoring the very essence of education "all round development" These kids that are denied of enjoying the childhood with peers which can promote all the social skills subconsciously are converted as split personalities and behaving incongruously. So, no parent should not forget the importance of Terence remark" Children should be led into the right paths, not by severity but by persuation".Further it is noticeable evolution of a child into an adult without certain social skills could be more detrimental to the society and to its integrity.

Essential social skills

1. Effective communication skill 2. Flexibility and cooperation skill 3. Positive attitude 4. Passion to learn 5. Respect for others. 6. Empathy and rapport skills 7. Interpersonal skills 8. Problem solving skills 9. Liability 10. Good manners. 11. Gestures and eye contact 12. Open to criticism 13. Conflict resolution skills 14. Active listening skills 15. Resisting peer pressure.