hi there Tara here on amazing milestones today I'm going to talk about social networking for kids that is I'm talking to other parents and chatting on various online forums I realized there is real focus on developmental milestones smiling sitting up first words but what about the social side I read just a few weeks ago that babies from as early as a few months already show a distinct social behavior at which I think it's fascinating and of course I want to know all I can do to help my baby interact well with others because after all it's quite crucial to a healthy and happy life so to help me with this we're gonna meet dr. rich house key he is a child behavior specialist and he is gonna explain about social development and kits and he's gonna give us a few pointers on what we can do to help so let's go meet him hello dr. Michelle Suki hello thank you for welcoming me in your clinic i I really like it it's um it's very colorful thank you we tried to create a stimulating environment here for our kids and for grownups too so um my first question is what are the different stages of socializing depending on age what can we expect well at one month your babies should be able to look at you temporarily especially when you come quite close to it at about 30 or 40 centimeters at about 2 to 3 months a baby should be able to smile back at you and you smile at it should be able to follow you with with her eyes a little bit and also try to seek you out in the room when you walk in and you call her his name at about 5 months the baby should be able to show signs of excitement when you look at it it will smile it will make all sorts of sounds and it will move its arms and legs up very very rapidly the size of excitement at about nine months a baby should start showing you signs of willingness to interact with you so it will play with your hair play with your ears play with a nose all these things at about 12 months your baby may start imitating you in your daily chores activities and it will also start showing signs of stranger anxiety oh really okay well well what kind of activities can I do with my child to encourage him or her to socialize with others first of all smile and talk to your child constantly try to talk to him whenever you describe whatever you do something described all the activities you did you do around it touch your child very often pick them up in your arms as much as you can try to keep a constant eye contact with your child as that helps foster a sense of acceptance and finally try to become very very excited at any little thing that your child does such as finishing his bottle saying the first words later on dressing up or or even being toilet trained because these behaviors tend to foster a sense of confidence in the child it is also very very important that you have your child spend as much time as possible with other children what is actually considered normal are there warning signs that we should look out for and if so what should we do it is perfectly normal for a child not to be always interested in playing it is perfectly normal for a child to to have a favorite toy cry when that toy is taken away by another child and even if and even in moments of excitement is perfectly normal for a child to occasionally bite another child or make a lot of screaming and fussing what I think would be abnormal as a behavior is if your child is never interested in playing with other kids when it has only one toy that it likes to play with and the way it plays with that toy is very restrictive for example it always spins the wheel of the car or always hits you no bangs the toy against the table or a wall or if your child is constantly aggressive with our children when it plays these are potential signs of behavioral developmental problems well that's all for my question so I'll let you get back to work and I thank you dr. Archelle ski that was really pertinent information thank you uh I definitely see lots of play groups in my future like us babies and children need to interact it's really important and it may not always be easy but with practice and patience lots of patience we will manage to foster positive social development in our children that's it for today come back next time we're going to talk about common feeding problems and what we can go to solve them see you then