Interpersonal Skills and Today's Job Market . . . What can parents do?

"Jobs requiring high levels of social interaction are growing. What does that mean for schools?" What can parents do?

". . . a forthcoming article . . . reveals the increasing importance of social skills in the contemporary labor market.

"Professions requiring high levels of social interaction — such as managers, teachers, nurses, therapists, consultants, and lawyers — have grown by nearly 12 percentage points as a share of all jobs in the United States economy in the last 30 years.

Commentary:  While the article targets what schools can do, social skills can be fostered and practiced at home. Parents can foster social skills at home by simply asking, "what if you were in that situation, how would you feel, what would you do?" Parents can help students "practice" the social skills of collaboration (working together), seeing a situation from another's point of view (perspective-taking) and learning (practicing) to be flexible.

To read the article, go to:  "Interpersonal Skills . . ."