4 Ways to Help Your Kids Make Lasting Friendships.

Often as parents we want our children to be able to find success in every possible outlet, which includes friendships. There is no rule of thumb when it comes to helping children play nice with other children but there are some qualities that can be learned. We will divulge 4 different options to give your child every opportunity to succeed at friendships. 

Lead By Example

Children are often much more observant than we give them credit for. They watch and absorb our social interactions everyday. They see how we go about introducing ourselves and others into a conversation, dealing with uncomfortable conversations, and creating a positive social interaction. This is just something to be aware of when your children are young is that they are absorbing everything we do during this time. 

Empathy

A great way to teach your children empathy is to help them become aware of others feelings and emotions. One way of helping them become aware and empathetic of others emotions is to talk about when another person is sad or angry. You should also infer why that person might feel the way they do. This helps your child start to have a much more interpersonal perspective. 

Coach them on Social Behavior

Although it is never good to discourage your kids and how they are handling social situations. It is important to let them know when they are doing something that comes a certain way to others. The same could be said for positively reinforcing when they did something well. Positive reinforcement can make all the difference with children. 

Let them know it's okay to Apologize

This is so important for the formative development of children. If children know that apologizing is something that is just a way of life, it might just make all the difference in their friendships. When you see your child do something to upset another, talk to your child about how what they did made the other feel.