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Resource suggestions for teaching kids about group dynamics?


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My kids need some help understanding group dynamics, and I hope someone has a great book/website/whatever that I can use to teach them the unspoken rules. They do very well one-on-one, but they are struggling in group situations with age-mates.

 

Any suggestions?

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I'm replying to bump you up and also to remind myself to look through my social skills books. I have a lot here and I'm pretty sure some expressly talk about group dynamics.

 

Do your kids maybe just need some more experience or do you think they may need some direct teaching from you on it? I'm wondering if it might be enough to just remind them to notice how the other kids are responding and behaving in these situations.

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I'm replying to bump you up and also to remind myself to look through my social skills books. I have a lot here and I'm pretty sure some expressly talk about group dynamics.

 

Do your kids maybe just need some more experience or do you think they may need some direct teaching from you on it? I'm wondering if it might be enough to just remind them to notice how the other kids are responding and behaving in these situations.

 

Experience definitely. They don't have issues responding or behaving in group situations(meaning they don't have odd or outcast behaviors), nor are they wallflowers. They do seem to have issues understanding how groups of young people work in general. Things like social groups of girls move from topic to topic to topic without rhyme or reason. You have to keep up! Those who don't speak up get left behind/out of the group. No one is going to specifically ask you to join the group - you have to jump in. They aren't going to take turns talking like in a regular conversation at our house. Kids talk over each other and jump in any available opening. Things like that. My kids feel ignored, but I truly think they just don't understand how groups of kids work. They wait for their "turn" in these groups, and turns never happen. KWIM?

 

The groups of kids they interact with socially are kids they connect with very well one-on-one. Get the kids in a larger group, though, and my kids just aren't keeping with the group. They want to keep up, they have the talent to keep up, but they don't have the street smarts.

 

I hope I am wording this OK. It's kinda hard to describe what I think I'm seeing.

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