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Some children are naturally very sociable while others might struggle to make friends, and a lot of it is down to their natural personality. It can be hard as a parent to watch your child playing alone or not wanting to engage in social activities, but it’s important to work to understand the reasons for your child’s lack of social skills before trying to help them. You might find these tips from a pre-school in New York useful if you want to help your child make friends at school.
Model good social skills
Children often adopt the same behaviours as their parents, so if you want your child to be more sociable it’s a good idea to demonstrate this yourself. Make sure your child sees you interacting positively with others and having conversations with different types of people. Small talk is a skill your child may need to learn, so next time you’re at the supermarket and see someone you know, try to engage in conversation and prompt your child to get involved. They’ll start to see that chatting with people is a normal part of life and nothing to shy away from.
Role play
If your child struggles to know what to say to people, you could role play different scenarios at home and practise what they could say. Having some prepared lines to rely on when they’re in a social situation will help them feel more confident and prevent them having to think about what to say. You may have to try out different options until your child finds some phrases they feel comfortable with.
Encourage extra-curricular activities
If your child is finding it hard to develop friendships at school, encourage them to participate in some after-school or weekend activities. This will push them out of their comfort zone a little and give them the chance to interact with different types of children. They may find it a bit easier to socialise with other kids who share the same interest as them as it will give them common ground to cover in conversations. Depending on the activity, your child may also have to work as part of a team which will develop their communication and interpersonal skills. You could also set up playdates with classmates to encourage friendships.
Whatever you do, don’t ignore the problem. The best thing to do is encourage your child to take small but frequent steps outside their comfort zone so they gradually develop their social skills and start to form valuable friendships.
