Listen to this week’s podcast about making friends as an adult HERE
I think a kid’s need for help making friends depends heavily on the personality of your child. Some kids are natural social butterflies and have never met a stranger. Others really struggle with the logistics of making friends.
My first and biggest advice is to figure out your kid’s interests and find ways to plug them into communities that share those interests. Maybe your child has a love of Legos, a sport, reading, or anything really. Having similar interests gives them a built in topic of conversation.
Places To Make Friends
Firstly, Libraries are great places to connect with similarly minded kids. Gone are the dusty buildings with stodgy white hair ladies constantly demanding quiet. Most are vibrant community centers with a wide variety of programs for kids and adults.
Another place to help your child connect with friends is getting them involved in a sport they’re interested in. Youth sports programs are everywhere. Mostly run by volunteers and parents, these programs are great for teaching the fundamentals of a sport and for helping your child connect with other kids. Some of my family’s lifelong friends were met this way. Highly recommend seeing what your community has to offer.
Lastly, if you’re child shows an interest in a particular friend from school or sports reach out the parent and arrange a play date. This, honestly, is the hardest part for me. It hails back to my high school days when I worried that I would be slapped down by my peers for going outside my level on the social ladder. But this really is a silly fear and not one we should be projecting onto our kids. Go ahead and call that other mom and see if she and her child would like to meet at the playground. You might just meet a friend for you too!
