Hi! I’m Audrey Monke.
Thanks for visiting my little corner of the internet here at Sunshine Parenting! Watch this 1-minute video to learn why I wrote this post about the importance of teaching kids how to introduce themselves to others:

Because of my research on the importance of good social skills and positive relationships for a flourishing life, in recent years I’ve focused on training camp counselors, teachers, and parents to think of themselves as their kids’ “Friendship Coaches.”

At a camp staff meeting several summers ago, I asked counselors to review a list of basic social skills and assess their campers proficiency in different skills. I asked them to give lower ratings to skills they saw as areas for camper improvement and higher ratings to skills they saw their campers mastering quite well.

There were a number of skills which counselors felt campers still needed coaching on, including:

Introducing yourself

Introducing other people

Apologizing

Understanding the feelings of others

Dealing with someone else’s anger

Negotiating

Avoiding trouble with others

Dealing with being left out

Concentrating on a task

While some of these skills — like understanding the feelings of others and dealing with someone else’s anger — require empathy, practice, and  — sometimes — an increased level of maturity, there were some that stood out as simple skills that could easily be addressed during a few weeks at camp.

7 Simple Steps to Teach Kids to Introduce Themselves

Introducing yourself (Can you approach people on your own and meet them?) and introducing others (Can you help people meet one another?) are very basic and useful social skills, especially at summer camp and school, where kids are meeting lots of new people. These friendship skills (among others) are ones we intentionally coach our campers on.

Introducing yourself is much more than saying your name; it’s a way to connect with someone new by exchanging words and often, physical contact. Introducing yourself to strangers can be tricky because what you say depends entirely on the context. You may introduce yourself differently depending on whether you are addressing an audience before you give a speech, meeting someone at a networking event, or just starting a conversation with a new person at a party. What is important is to introduce yourself in a way that is appropriate and makes people like and remember you.

Introduce Yourself (wikihow.com)

Here are seven steps I review during counselor training about how to coach kids to introduce themselves and others. Parents can use these same guidelines for coaching kids on these important skills!

STEP 1: SMILE

Smile and make eye contact with the person you want to meet. Shaking hands or giving a high five are fun ways to say hello.

2020 COVID UPDATE: These are not times when a hand shake or high five are appropriate greetings. Some friendly non-touch alternatives include a thumbs up, nod, or a wave. These can all be done online, as well. If children are permitted to touch, a toe or foot shake or an elbow bump are fun alternatives.

STEP 2: SAY YOUR “OPENER” 

“Hi, I’m Sunshine. What’s your name?”

STEP 3: ACKNOWLEDGE AND USE NAME

“Nice to meet you, _________!”
People LOVE to hear their own name, and saying their name right away helps you remember their name.

STEP 4: ASK A QUESTION

“Have you been to camp before?”
“How old are you?”
“Where are you from?”
“What activities are you most excited about?”

STEP 5: LISTEN TO ANSWER AND RESPOND

Acknowledge similarities/differences: “This is my first year at camp, too!”

STEP 6: ASK MORE QUESTIONS OR OFFER A SMALL INVITATION

“Do you want to play cards?”
“Let’s sit next to each other at dinner!”
“Will you be my bathroom buddy?”

STEP 7: INTRODUCE TO OTHERS

“Have you met _______?”
“Sam, this is Joe. He goes to my school.”

While these steps may sound simple to adults, sometimes we forget to actually explain the process of introducing ourselves and others to our kids. Like most skills, with a bit of gentle coaching, our kids can improve tremendously in these areas!

At our camper orientation on the first night of camp this week, I reviewed these seven steps with our campers using a big flip chart. When I went over Step 4 (ask a question), I had some of the kids share ideas of good questions to ask someone they were about to meet for the first time. They came up with a lot of great ones. Next, I asked the campers to think of which question they were going to use while meeting their new friend. Every camper then practiced meeting someone new and then introducing that person to someone they already knew in their own cabin group. Counselors are going to continue encouraging kids to practice their introduction skills throughout the camp session.

If you try this with your own kids, I suggest role playing with them ahead of time, which is especially helpful with kids who are less confident socially.

One of my favorite things to do is to interview long-time campers about their camp experiences. This summer, I’ve already interviewed more than 50 campers ranging from 6-year-old first-time campers to 16-year-old, 10-year veteran campers.

A social skill that has come up in almost every interview, when I ask campers how they think their time at camp has changed or influenced them, is making new friends.  Campers say that because of camp they are much more confident about meeting new people and making new friends. Some mention that they are more confident about starting at a new school or joining a new team or club because they know how to meet people and have learned to be more open and approach others with a smile and simple introduction.

Introducing themselves and introducing others is an important and useful social skill that we can easily coach our kids to master using these simple steps.

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