4 Ways To Help Your Child Make Friends At School

Socialising is an important part of a child's growth and making friends isn’t something kids are taught at school. The last thing we want to think is that our kids have no friends at school, so we need to teach them how to make friends.

Unlike getting along with more understanding adults, socialising with other kids may actually be a bigger challenge for our little ones, especially if they don't have any younger siblings.

With that in mind, here are four ways to help your kids make friends at school. 

1. Sharing

One of the best ways for kids to make friends is to be open to sharing their toys with other kids. Through this, your kids will be able to form their social circles by meeting kids who are into the same things that they are into.

Sharing means fewer fights, less crying, and more time having fun with other kids. 

2. Cooperation

Speaking of social circles, being part of a group may sometimes mean that your child has to contribute to his/her group's common goal. This could be a game of basketball, building some lego figures, or pretending to be a team of heroes.

Learning how to cooperate will help your child see the value of working together and deepen their bonds with their friends. 

3. Empathy

A child who can empathise with others is a child who will naturally attract friends and keep them. A child who exhibits empathy will be good at seeing the world from another person's eyes and might even have a growth mindset that focuses on how to help their friends solve their problems and be better. 

4. Optimism

Nothing is more powerful than positivity. Having a child who can always see the good in every situation and more importantly, in other people, can help them uplift the moods of other kids and establish genuine connections.

A child who can make others happy is a child who other children will want to be around. Much like empathy, optimism may create a certain growth mindset in your child since they will never dwell on the negatives of life. 

While there are many more ways that contribute to a child's ability to make friends, starting with these will give your child a good foundation for dealing with other kids (and making friends at school).

While it may take time to instil these traits into your child, they will certainly benefit from it in the long run.