Friendships come and go all through life. People change, we change, people move away, settle down before you, after you and our opinions and values change, having a huge impact on who we want to be around. Children’s friendships seem much simpler but they are not. Children can change friends every week or so. One person is popular on Monday and someone else by Friday. There are alliances, cliques and lots of things unsaid. Children can find it hard to make friends, keep friends and move between groups. And as our children get older friends start to play an ever greater role in their lives and peer pressure comes into play more. It is tough for children in the playground so you need to support your child through the hard times fo friendships and out the other side.
You Can Support Your Child By..
Talking and listening sensitively to them about their friendships when they are not going so well. That means listening – without distraction and questioning them too much – and not being judgemental about what they say to you..
We can encourage them to tackle the friendships problem on their own but let them know that you are there if they need guidance and assistance. There is nothing wrong with hand-holding.
We can let them know that all friendships require hard work and are not easy and that only by having friendship issues can they learn about the types of friends they have and more about themselves. It will also help them know how to solve problems and what not to do in the future.
We can also help them build up resilience so they become less affected by playground politics and ensuring they have a healthy self-esteem is part of that. Finally, we can share ideas with them as to what they can do to improve a situation if they want our help.
How do you support your child with their friendships?
If friendships is a bone of contention for you and your child then why not seek out Being Me (And Loving It) as there is lots more help within this book.
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