Friendships

What do friendships mean for your kid?

Friendships are a crucial part of growing up. It's important to encourage your kid to connect with their peers, create friendships, and have healthy relationships with others but even more important to help them appreciate that they should go for quality, not quantity, in their friendships. Having one or two solid, reliable friendships will likely provide more support than aiming to be popular or trying to maintain a broad social group.

On the flipside, when kids are bullied or harassed at school, they might find it difficult to relate to their peers. It's important to notice your kid's behaviors around others, and help guide them to engage with others in healthy ways. We can assess the quality of our friendships by focusing on what our friends bring out in us. Do we feel comfortable, supported, and happy in the presence of our friends? If not, it’s probably time to think through those relationships.

Actions to start a conversation
Notice if your kid has friends, socializes with their peers, is a part of organizations, or where they interact with others. Feel free to talk about your own friendships and relationships. It will help them learn to socialize and get a sense of what healthy social interactions should be like.
Actions to do while listening
Ask your kid about their friendships. If you get a sense that your child is lonely or is being bullied, talk through their feelings, and help them find solutions and foster healthy friendship skills.
Actions to understand
Encourage your kid to join clubs or organizations that might help them interact with others. Signing them up for an art class or a sport might be a great way to nudge them in a healthy direction to meet people with common interests.