Describe how social development begins at home.

Through their interactions with parents and siblings, young children learn how to use social interaction to get what they want (Borstein & Lansford, 2010), and later they use these interactions to begin to understand others (Beisert et al., 2012; Cipriano & Stifter, 2010). Parents who talk to their children about other people's thoughts, feelings, and motives promote young children's social cognition (Gehlbach, Brinkworth, & Harris, 2011; Sanders, 2010). And children learn social skills by observing their parents interact with others (Beisert et al., 2012). Siblings assist in the process of social development. When we're young, we're in constant contact with our families and frequently interact with our brothers and sisters. Competition, negotiation, and compromise are a part of family life, and these experiences also help us acquire social skills (Caspi, 2012).