Learn how to make small talk
July 3, 2012 2:12PM
Updated: August 5, 2012 6:07AM
Teens: Summer is here and chances are that you might be attending a party or two. At parties, teens tend to either have a wonderful time or a miserable experience. If you have been miserable at a party, it may have been that you didn’t “mix” well with other guests because of your shyness.
The key to mixing well with the guests is indulging in polite social chitchat known as small talk.
According to Joyce Anisman-Saltman, a college professor and therapist who teaches communication skills, small talk is one of the most important social skills teens can develop. “After all, it is small talk that turns a tense atmosphere cordial,” she says. “That makes a person sociable and enables strangers to begin the process of becoming friends.”
It’s not uncommon for teens to feel uncomfortable about chatting with people they don’t know, Anisman-Saltman says. However, she also notes that it is really quite simple to learn how to make small talk.
Write to Dr. Wallace
at rwallace@galesburg.net
