The Importance Of Social Interaction On Children

In the words of Nobel Laureate Gabriela Mistral, “We are guilty of many errors and many faults, but our worst crime is abandoning the children, neglecting the foundation of life. Many of the things we need can wait, the child cannot, right now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made and his senses are being developed. To him, we cannot answer ‘tomorrow’. His name is ‘Today’.” A child is born innocent. As human beings are all social animals, they all do realize that whatever they do is basically the product of social interaction with the other people, whether it is one’s family, society, media or peers. What human beings tend to forget is that these social interactions tend to influence the behavior and thought process of the child. These interactions teach a child what he/she may or may not do, giving him/her certain set of rules and ranges of social behavior that are permissive or prohibitive or perspective. It makes him/her aware about what is wrong and what is right, good conduct and bad conduct. That is to say, the social values are imparted by such social interaction. The cultural environment starts out with a human infant born and at the same time the process of learning begins, which changes the child’s behavior and outlook. A child who was once a raw material, through such social interaction, comes out as a product which

The primary responsibility of the school is to provide them education which helps them to differentiate between good and bad. A well planned scheme of education should be drafted which should intellectually prepare them to accept social responsibility. The school curriculum should include sex education. An effort should be made on the part of the school authorities to appoint counselors and psychiatrist to look into the problems that children might be facing. This will result in active participation of teachers with the