How Can a Parent Help a Son to Find Friends?
Parents want their children to have encouraging and supportive friends. But whether it's due to a move, a new school or other personal issues, children struggle from time to time with finding friends. You can't make friends for your son. But whether he is 5 or 15 or somewhere in between, a parent can help his or her son find friends.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Teach good communication by effectively modeling it. Listen to your son when he talks to you, even if it's at an inconvenient time. If you absolutely can't stop what you are doing, reassure him that what he wants to share with you is important and you can't wait to hear it. Set a date, preferably later that day, but within the next 24 to 48 hours, to finish the conversation.
-
2
Teach communication. Offer opportunities for your son to play and socialize. Host playdates or offer to carpool with other parents. Unstructured playtime helps your child learn much needed social skills. Help him interact with adults. Let him order at the fast-food restaurant or talk to the bank teller.
-
-
3
Model friendship to your child so he knows how to be a friend to others. Emphasize his strengths and help him develop them. Encourage him to help others in his class with subjects or sports he excels in. Be complimentary, friendly and helpful to others, with random acts of kindness, such as buying a meal for a homeless person or opening the door for a stranger. Keep your sense of humor about your own faults. Teach your child to treat others as he wants to be treated.
-
4
Monitor your child's activities. If he is too involved in Boy Scouts, baseball, soccer and piano lessons, he won't have time to find friends or spend time with new ones. Conversely, if he doesn't attend any type of structured group, he won't have opportunities to meet other children, except at school. Sign him up for one or two after-school or weekend activities. Think outside the box and look at specialized classes such as writing, a foreign language or a unique sport.
-
5
Intervene with caution. Instead, encourage your son with needed skills to build his own relationships. Emphasize the need to take responsibility for his own behavior, to empathize with the emotions of others and to look for ways to improve a situation and resolve a problem.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Boys build friendships around active play, including games with rules and competition. This might include teasing, which can turn mean if they sense another child already deals with rejection. Watch for hurt feelings and being left out or chosen last on a team.
References
- Photo Credit Mum and the son image by Stepanov from Fotolia.com
