How to Help Your Child Make New Friends

Play with your kids like a peer.

For children of school age, outdoor activities such as basketball or football (soccer) or board games, building blocks, etc. can be a lot of fun, and it can be more fun for them if you play with them like a peer. This is a great time to bond with your child and learn more about your child’s social skills. Be playful with them and avoid criticizing their playfulness, rather, laugh and smile with them.

Don’t interfere in your child’s play situations.

Unless your child is in danger, or other children you know is at risk of getting hurt, or you think the situation may escalate beyond kids’ ability to work things out, let your kid work out his/her own. Think of issues as social challenges your kids need to overcome, they will benefit a lot from it.

Talk to your kids about their friends in school or in the playground.

Ask your child about their day and what happened to them in school. “Who’s your favorite playmate at school?” “Why do you like playing with him/her?” Let your child speak his/her mind and interact with him/her, let your conversation be good opportunities to solve problems together.

Though we always want our children to learn, sometimes it would be better if we listen to how they feel to help them develop their coping mechanism on their own. Make sure you make it a conversation, not a lecture.

No matter how hard we teach our children, they will always seem to listen and accept other people’s ideas. As eager as we to see them to do good and succeed, there are many things we can’t just push to them.