Throughout your child’s education, and their whole life in fact, they are bound to fall out with their friends from time to time. As a parent, you can help your child overcome these problems as they occur and teach them how to manage a bullying situation. A prep school in Surrey have put together the following advice to help you understand how to deal with your child’s friendship problems, without interfering too much.
It might be worth encouraging your child to socialise and join some extracurricular clubs. This will help them make new friends and develop important social skills. The more communication that they have with others and the more friendships they develop throughout life, the easier they will find it to respond appropriately when any of those friendships become a little rocky. It will also help with their confidence. Rocky friendships are, of course, a normal part of life but these conflicts should be short-lived and resolved on their own. However, parents do have to step in from time to time.
Provide a shoulder to cry on if your child needs it and listen to them as they explain to you what has happened with their friend. Try not to interrupt them or judge them when they are talking, as this will discourage them from opening up to you again. Where necessary, you might need to get a teacher involved, but at the beginning its better to take a step back and try and let your child work it out alone. Of course, it wouldn’t hurt for you to give some advice. For instance, you could explain that their friend might be going through some turmoil in their personal life and they are taking it out in an unpleasant way. This might help your child find it in their heart to forgive them friend. Always ask them how they wish to move forward and if they would like to continue a friendship with the person in question so that they can figure out their next steps.
As with anything that concerns your children, you should always try and set a good example. When it comes to navigating relationships, you should always demonstrate appropriate social skills. Be kind, considerate and have good manners. Teach your children that when they are having a conversation with someone, they need to listen just as much as they need to talk.
How do you deal with your children's friendship problems?
Human being bound to fall out with their friends from time to time. Thanks for your such concerning post about our children.
ReplyDeleteMy son had a problem at school with a couple of so called friends, i stood back and found it escalated, i went to the teachers, who told me they would keep an eye on things, once again it continued, till my son retaliated and got suspended from school, this problem is a hard one, for us it didnt work, but i now feel i would of been better taking my son out of school, but different schools work differently, infact one of the boys mothers came to see me and apologised for her son, but alas too late
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