{"id":2871,"date":"2023-08-28T06:00:15","date_gmt":"2023-08-28T13:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/?p=2871"},"modified":"2023-07-05T11:03:21","modified_gmt":"2023-07-05T18:03:21","slug":"how-to-help-your-child-be-a-good-friend-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/how-to-help-your-child-be-a-good-friend-2\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Help Your Child Be a Good Friend"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Heading back to school is exciting<\/h2>\n<p>But doing so can bring stress and social anxiety to many children. There couldn&#8217;t be a better time to talk with your kids about what it means to be a good friend. And to talk with them about the damage that bullying causes.<\/p>\n<p>Little kids have the funniest ideas sometimes! Here\u2019s one that took me by surprise: Some kids think they can have only one friend at a time. For example, Chloe might really like Sophia and spend a lot of time with her. But when Chloe meets a new fun person, she rejects Sophia because she doesn\u2019t understand it\u2019s okay to have more than one friend at a time.<\/p>\n<h2>Teach your child about friendship<\/h2>\n<p>You can help your child understand friendship by telling them about the relationships you have with friends. You might explain, \u201cI&#8217;ve known Marta since high school, but I met Lori when you were a baby.\u201d That can help your child learn it\u2019s important to nurture and protect their existing friendships as they make new ones.<\/p>\n<p>This might be a good time to teach your child the old Girl Scout song <em>Make New Friends<\/em>!<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>Make new friends, but keep the old<br \/>\n<\/em><em>One is silver and the other gold.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>A circle is round, it has no end<br \/>\n<\/em><em>That\u2019s how long I want to be your friend.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Here is my hand, and here is the other<br \/>\n<\/em><em>Let\u2019s put them together and we have each other.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Ways to help your child be a good friend and make good friends<\/h2>\n<h3><strong>Have fun with playdates<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Set up play dates and encourage them to invite kids they like to your house.<\/li>\n<li>Help your child\u2019s new friend feel comfortable. Greet them by name, and tell them how glad you are to see them.<\/li>\n<li>Pay attention to how the play date is going. Offer ideas for activities if needed. Feed them snacks!<\/li>\n<li>Take time to praise the kid\u2019s behavior after the play date, and tell the other parent it went well. This makes kids and parents feel good and helps strengthen the budding friendship.<\/li>\n<li>Make friends with the parents of your child\u2019s friends.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Appreciate diversity<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Talk about the differences in people around you. People have different shapes, sizes, ethnicities, cultures, and abilities. Families have different structures. Point out that the world is a better place because of this diversity!<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Choose books to read to your child that feature people with a broad range of backgrounds and abilities.<\/li>\n<li>Talk with your child about bias or prejudice when you observe it in person, on TV, or in books.<\/li>\n<li>Let your child know it\u2019s not okay to tease other kids because they seem different.<\/li>\n<li>Explain your values clearly so your child has an internal GPS to navigate when challenged by real-life situations.<\/li>\n<li>Be willing to answer and learn together! The more you discuss diversity, the more your child will ask and want to learn.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Discuss bullying<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>In addition to teaching your child loyalty and devotion in friendships, you can also discuss how they should react if they see another child being treated poorly. Bullying usually involves 3 roles that people play: the bully, the bullied, and the bystander.<\/p>\n<p>You should discuss your expectations for each of these roles with your child. Teaching them to stand up for others is crucial to helping them become a good friend and person. Let your child know:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Think about and act the way they want to be treated.<\/li>\n<li>Talk with a grown-up if another child is being hurt or if they feel hurt by what someone said or did.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Managing and supporting young friendships is so important! Robert Louis Stevenson wisely wrote:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cNo man is useless while he has a friend.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Friendship is crucial to our success in life. Help your child find this success by teaching him how to be a good friend!<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Resources for Parents:<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>The American Academy of Pediatrics Parenting website: Healthychildren.org<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.commonsensemedia.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Common Sense Media<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Book:<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The Bully, the Bullied, and the Bystander: <\/em>From Preschool to High School &#8211; How Parents and Teachers Can Help Break the Cycle, by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kidsareworthit.com\/home.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">B<\/a>arbara Coloroso<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Little kids have the funniest ideas sometimes! Here\u2019s one that took me by surprise: Some kids think they can have only one friend at a time! Help your child make and keep friendships.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":554,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[454,86],"tags":[283,422,115,114,61,209,547],"class_list":["post-2871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-behavior","category-school","tag-back-to-school","tag-back-to-school-jitters","tag-bullying","tag-friendship","tag-parenting","tag-positive-parenting","tag-school","ages-grade-school","ages-toddler"],"metadata":{"_edit_lock":["1692813278:8"],"_edit_last":["8"],"slide_template":[""],"video_format_choose":["youtube"],"_custom_body_class":[""],"_yoast_wpseo_content_score":["90"],"qode_animate-page-title":["no"],"qode_show-page-title-text":["no"],"qode_show-page-title-image":["no"],"qode_show-sidebar":["default"],"qode_hide-featured-image":["no"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":["454"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_ages":["291"],"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw_text_input":["friend"],"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":["friend"],"_yoast_wpseo_linkdex":["75"],"qode_seo_title":["How to Help Your Child Be a Good Friend"],"qode_seo_keywords":["friends, friendship, bullying, differences, helping child be a good friend"],"qode_seo_description":["Foster your child\u2019s friendships! Set up play dates and encourage them to invite kids they like to your house. Help your child\u2019s new friend feel comfortable. Greet them by name, and tell them how glad you are to see them. Pay attention to how the play date is going. Offer ideas for activities if needed. Feed them snacks! Take time to praise the kid\u2019s behavior after the play date, and tell the other parent it went well. This makes kids and parents feel good and helps strengthen the budding friendship. Make friends with the parents of your child\u2019s friends."],"_thumbnail_id":["554"],"wpfp_favorites":["19"],"ase_chapter_enable_timeline":["off"],"_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":["3"],"_wpb_vc_js_status":["false"],"_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":["Help your child Make friends, be a good friend and avoid bullying with these positive parenting tips."],"_yoast_wpseo_focuskeywords":["[]"],"_yoast_wpseo_keywordsynonyms":["[\"\"]"],"_yoast_wpseo_wordproof_timestamp":[""],"_yoast_indexnow_last_ping":["1693228147"],"ase_map_component_start_point":["a:2:{s:3:\"lat\";d:29.76;s:3:\"lng\";d:-95.38;}"]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2871"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3532,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2871\/revisions\/3532"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpthrivingfamilies.org\/pediatricsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}