Make New Friends

Making and having friends is very important to all of us. When you work or go to school you want to have a few good friends. It is very important for our little ones as well. They may find it hard or awkward at times to make friends. There are somethings that we may be able to do to help them make friends

If you have friends and they see how well you get along with  you friends then they will be able to model this behavior. It is important that you show a give and take relationship and build on this at home. Princess is learning the hard way that while she may win some games at home she is not always the winner. This helps her learn the skills of give and take. She also learns that when someone is sad or not feeling well that we try to help them out. I think living in a large family helps us out there.

Knowing our child's personality will help us help them as well. Our princess loves to be the leader and is a little social bee but our nephew is quite the other way being a bit shy but wanting to be in the group. One thing that we do is try to get them out with other children where they can play and make friends. It never surprises me that Princess always makes a new friend and bud loves it as well, being part of the group. Pushing your child to much will not make anything better, knowing where they are comfortable is what is important

Help your child work through childhood friendship problems and drama. Yes, I did say drama you may be surprised as to what may come up. It is important to help your child understand the situation and things from both sides.

In the beginning I was guilty of choosing my child's friends or trying to (by the way this did not work) It is important that your child find their own friends. I nearly always tried to point princess towards children who went to our church, we knew their parents or way or another fit into our circle. The truth is she liked most of everyone and made friends that crossed through so many barriers and she really loved it. She did not worry about who was popular and neither should we, allowing her to enjoy her friends was the best.

Have a chat with your child before school starts about bullies. We have all ready seen our share and it is very important to not let it continue but to speak up and let someone know.