Tools You can Use to Help Your Child Make Friends
One area
that many parents worry about regarding their preschool-aged child is how well
the child will make friends. This is important for the child’s immediate
experience, but also it is important because it will impact how that child
makes friends for the rest of their life. Some kids struggle though and here is
some advice on how to help your child in pre-k in Franklin, TN, make friends
and develop the social skills needed to make friends throughout life.
Home Coaching
There are a
few reasons why a child might struggle with making friends. Even if they do
not, making sure they have the basic social skills to talk to people and
potentially engage in a friendship is important. One way of helping a child
learn those skills is to give them some home coaching. Home coaching through
role-playing is one very effective way of ensuring your child learns how to
approach people, break the ice and maintain a conversation, even with
strangers.
Some kids
really struggle to meet new people and make friends. For those, home coaching
can work as well. If your child is in that situation, one approach is to
develop “social scripts” that highlight everyday conversations and appropriate
interactions. Social scripts are especially important if your child struggles
with basic social skills, such as establishing eye contact, interpreting
non-verbal cues and recognizing and appreciating sarcasm.
Practice, Practice,
Practice
Athletes
practice particular actions or skills until they are almost automatic. This is
so when they need those skills or actions in a game, their response is fluid
and immediate, without thinking about them. The same principle applies to
practicing to meet new people, interact with known people and/or make friends.
One way of
practicing is having supervised playdates. In these, a teacher or parent
monitors the interactions of the children involved and takes notes of any
peculiar behavior or interactions.
A
supervised playdate also lets a teacher or parent see first hand what a child
might be experiencing if they are complaining about how the other children or a
child treats them. The adult supervising the playdate can not only document
their observations, they can begin to implement strategies to address the issue
or issues.
Supervised Playdates as
Learning Moments
Another
benefit to a supervised playdate is that they are a great way to help children
develop the social skills they need. They provide an opportunity to go over
with your child what it means to be a good host, how they will interact with
other children, what games they want to play and why. It also provides a great
way to assess if the child can interpret cues from others and evaluate whether
the others are having a good time.
It is very
important that your child learn basic social skills and make friends in
preschool. As your child learns these skills in pre-k in
Franklin, TN, these tools can help them get started!
Comments