How To Help Your Child Make New Friends At The Child Care Centre
How well is your child doing socially in child care? You may not be around to see it, but there is certainly plenty that you can do to help your child make friends and enjoy a healthy social life.
While there is no guarantee that the friendships your child forms in kindergarten will stand the test of time into their adult life, these friendships are definitely worth it in the present. Help your child make friends at their child care facility with these tips.
Talk About It
It's never too early to talk about friendship. You can also never talk too often about friendship. Your kindergartener will understand.
Talk about what it means to be a friend and why your child needs one. Talk about how to go about speaking to and making a friend of the other kids in child care. Talk about the do's and don'ts that will help the friendship grow.
Do Some Role Playing
Don't stop at just talking about how to talk to a new friend. Do some role-playing where you, as the parent, pretend to be the other child. Really be in the moment by listening attentively and being your most encouraging. Do not tire of going through as many conversation starters as your child may want.
Model Good Friendship
Kids do learn from watching their parents and those around them. With this in mind, what behaviour and attitude do you model as a friend?
Watch how you interact with your friends when your kid is around. Be gentle, playful, considerate, and all things nice. Your kid will learn that your behavior is the way to do it and will reflect the same attitudes and behaviours with the friendships they form at the child care centre.
Take It Outside
Allow your child to sign up for different extracurricular activities that interest them. You can talk to the other parents at the child care centre about signing up their kids as well. These group activities provide plenty of opportunities for the kids to interact.
You can also invite some of the other kids from the kindergarten for a play date at your house. Alternatively, you can team up with the other parents and take the kids out for some outdoor fun or a group reading time at your local library.
Developing social skills so early in life is crucial. Be it kindergarten, or any other child care centre, your child stands to benefit from making new friends with the outlined tips.
