16 Social Skills for Teens

1. Empathy

Empathy helps teens connect with others by understanding their feelings. Here’s how to teach your child empathy:

• Ask about someone else’s emotions: Say, “How do you think your friend felt when their plan got canceled?” This helps them pause and think beyond their point of view.
• Use daily events: Bring up real situations, such as, “When your sister didn’t share, how do you think she felt?” These everyday moments make empathy feel real and useful.

3. Self-management

Self-management helps teens handle strong emotions without becoming overwhelmed socially. Help them build this skill by teaching them how to:

• Take a short pause: Show how taking a breath or counting to five can help you manage your reactions. When they’re upset, you could suggest, “Let’s just pause for a moment and take three deep breaths before we talk.” 
• Find stress outlets: Talk with them about what helps them reset, such as music, movement, alone time, or a change of scene.
• Use setbacks as lessons: Talk after outbursts, not during. Use calm moments to reflect together on what happened. You could ask, “Next time you feel angry, what else could you try instead of yelling?”

4. Social awareness

Social awareness helps adolescents understand how people behave in different situations, allowing them to interact more easily. You can help your teen by teaching them to:

• Point out body language gently: Use real-time moments to notice nonverbal cues like facial expressions. When you see someone sigh and look down, you could ask your teen, “How do you think that person is feeling based on their body language?” 
• Understand social differences: Help your teen understand that what’s normal in one setting might not be in another. Discuss how using slang might be fine with friends but not in a job interview. 
• Observe people together: In public settings, ask your teen to guess what someone might feel based on their posture or tone. 

6. Assertiveness

Assertiveness helps teens respectfully express their needs and opinions. You can guide them by teaching them to:

• Use clear personal statements: Teach phrases that state needs or feelings directly, like “I need some space” or “That didn’t feel good to me.”
• Model boundary-setting: You might say to a friend on the phone, “I can’t talk right now because I’m helping my teenager with something, but I can call you back in an hour.” Seeing you set healthy boundaries provides a real-world example.
• Praise assertive moments: If they politely decline an invitation they don’t want to accept, say, “I noticed you were clear and kind when you told your friend you couldn’t make it. That was great.” Positive reinforcement encourages the behavior.

7. Non-verbal communication

Understanding non-verbal cues helps teens communicate effectively and understand others’ messages more fully. You can help them do this by teaching them to:

• Notice body language: Teach your teen to observe how people hold their bodies. Talk about what different postures or facial expressions might mean, like how slumped shoulders can show sadness.
• Listen to the tone of voice: Talk about how “how” something is said can change its meaning. Discuss how a flat tone might suggest boredom, even if the words are positive.
• Practice eye contact: Encourage making comfortable eye contact during conversations. Explain that this shows interest and respect when talking with someone.

• Have others play parts: Ask family or friends to act as the people your teen would talk to in a real situation. This could be the person doing the interview, a store worker, or someone serving food.
• Practice the full scenario: Go through the whole experience from start to finish. This helps your teen practice staying calm and speaking clearly, and it builds their confidence in real situations.

11. Respect for boundaries

Respect for boundaries helps teens build healthy relationships based on mutual respect. You can help reinforce this by teaching them to:

• Talk about limits openly: Share times when you needed space or felt uncomfortable. For example, you could say, “I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed right now and need some quiet time alone in my room.” 
• Give examples of crossing lines: Discuss a situation where someone didn’t respect personal space or kept pushing after being told no. Discussing boundaries in specific situations can be helpful.
• Teach mutual respect: Explain that it’s okay for them to say no to something they’re not comfortable with, and it’s also essential to respect when others say no. Understanding and respecting boundaries is a two-way street.

12. Stress management

Stress management helps teens cope with challenges and maintain social confidence. You can support this skill by teaching them to:

• Pick calm-down tools: Help your teen explore different ways to relax when stressed. Try activities like listening to music, drawing, or walking together.
• Watch for warning signs: Teach your teen to recognize their stress signals. Talk about how changes in sleep, mood, or interest in activities might mean they feel overwhelmed.
• Take a break: Model and suggest taking short breaks when feeling stressed or during heated moments. Say, “Let’s pause this conversation and return to it later after we’ve both had a chance to cool down.”

14. Resilience

Resilience helps teens bounce back from tough times and disappointments. You can help build this in your teen by teaching them to:

• Focus on effort: Help your teen value their effort, not just the result. Praise their hard work practicing for a team, even if they don’t make it.
• Review past challenges: Talk about tough times they’ve overcome before. Remind them how they got through a challenging class by changing their study habits.
• Frame mistakes as learning opportunities: Share your own experiences with mistakes and what you learned from them. Explain that mistakes are normal and a chance to learn and get better.