Feeling Not Like Children's Friends, Here's How To Convey It To Your Little One
JAKARTA - As a parent, you certainly enjoy seeing your child have friends. Proud to certainly surround when you know that children's social skills are developing, see him playing and laughing, and know that he is learning to support and be supported by their friends.
However, sooner or later you may meet your child's friends who you don't like. Good because of the harsh way of playing, like to say rude, happy to rule or bang, even do something less than fun.
Nicole Beurkens, Ph.D., a licensed clinical psychologist and founder and director at the Horizons Developmental Resource Center in Caledonia, said that when parents don't like their children's friends, it would be nice to tell the child without having to pit him and his friends against each other. However, how to? Here's the full explanation, launching Very Well Family, Wednesday, March 1.
Learn more about children's friendship without judging. You can ask your little one to tell the story about his friend, what the child likes from his friend, and whether he likes to make friends with those friends. You may be able to learn new things that change your mind about your child's friends if you start communicating.
It's not wise for parents to say negative things about their child's friends. Because this has the potential to cause a rift between you and your child. If this is the case, the relationship between your child and you has the potential to experience problems. Instead of solving one problem, another problem arises.
If you observe something worrying or what your child doesn't think is a problem, ask questions about that behavior. For example, "So, how do you treat me when Morgan says that to you earlier? Is he often angry like that?" or "Tyler seems to only care about him when he needs something from behind," or "You often look bad in the mood or sad after hanging out with Emma."
After conveying your observations, give your child the opportunity to voice his perspective too. The child may be confused about how to handle this situation. Validating his emotions without rushing to ask him to improve the situation can be a powerful way to teach children to solve problems. Help him by telling stories about your experience while in his current situation and giving advice on how to improve the quality of friendship.