In any school, it is perfectly normal to have a set of children who have difficulty making friends. They have social skills that are perhaps not as sharp as those of others at the school. There are things you can do as a parent to help your child find her footing in a group of children. Read on.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t push<\/strong><\/p>\n If your child enjoys solo activities, then allow her to do it. Not being able to socialize is a common problem among school-going children. Don\u2019t make a big deal about it.<\/p>\n Identify the lack<\/strong><\/p>\n Not all children have problems making friends because of the same difficulty. Shyness is a major cause. However, if you look deeper, you may find it could be because of reasons that are unique to each child. The hurdles could be:<\/p>\n Let them use stories<\/strong><\/p>\n Children often project their problems on their dolls or as stories. Ask your child to tell you a story about a horse that had difficulty sharing his ideas and emotions with people. If your child has a favourite doll, then ask her, \u201cWhat is Tessy feeling these days? Who are her good friends? Does she ever feel scared or shy? If yes, then when?\u201d Many kids find it easier to discuss real-life issues through fictional stories.<\/p>\n Meet other parents<\/strong><\/p>\n Being friendly with parents of your child\u2019s schoolmates makes things easy for you. Firstly, this way, you will be able to model the social skills that your child will be urged to emulate. \u00a0It can also help you set up after-school activities with other children more often.<\/p>\n Keep your child busy<\/strong><\/p>\n Get your child enrolled in painting classes, team sports, dance, and gymnastics after school. This after-school exposure is essential because your child may need to spend more time sharpening his\/her social skills and do so in a non-academic light-hearted environment. This may also help you identify if the problem is just that the class or school your child studies in doesn\u2019t have the set of children who may be interested in activities he\/she is interested in. In other words, it may be that he\/she just may not have found his\/her kind of friends yet.<\/p>\n Think locally<\/strong><\/p>\n Know some kids in your neighborhood. It\u2019s easier to walk down the block to see if a friend wants to play hide-and-seek rather than to set time aside to arrange play-date with a child who lives across the city.<\/p>\n Image Credit:\u00a0FreeDigitalPhotos.net<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In any school, it is perfectly normal to have a set of children who have difficulty making friends. They have social skills that are perhaps not as sharp as those of others at the school. There are things you can do as a parent to help your child find her footing in a group of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[151],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[4525],"yoast_head":"\n\n