Making Friends (PIOG)

[Carey2006]

Does your child have a hard time making friends?

Share your story or share some tips on how to help kids make friends.....

I joined local mommie websites and groups when my son was born. Every Friday there's a get together for coffee and it was nice to allow the babies to play while enjoying a lil grown-up time with the other moms.

ANY AGE-take you child to the local park, be sure to take pen & paper to get your new friend's phone number so that you can call an arrange another park playdate

Sign you child up for activities that they enjoy, part of making friends is having a shared interest.

[kmrtigger]

 This is GREAT advice.

[rkoloms]

My daughter is one of those kids who makes friends instantly.

[natesmom1228]

Thanks for the advice.

[AutymsMommy]

She hasn't any problems making friends... she has school (she in the third grade), I am part of a local playgroup that covers all ages (for my 10 month old and my 8 year old), she takes part in after school activities (dance, chess club and next season will be chess club, tennis) etc.

I am a HUGE fan of after school activities as a way of socialization.

[cleo1977]

i have a 10 yr old that has been bullied.i mean pushed down and face smacked.now we live in a rural extremely competitive town.she is in girl scouts.plays soccer in a couple of weeks but i also put her in karate.(only to let her know she can defend herself if needed.)the karate has been very good for her.she says her bff is being bullied on  the bus.my dd says she just sits there and looks out the window.i think she is to afraid of getting involved.i have to my dd"s   bff mother that this was going on .she said she didnt care and she could handle it her self(the mother)so im finding that karate is the best...because sorry to say it but bullying is out there and everyone is a victim.even the bullies are being bullied at some point...

[natesmom1228]

Quoting AutymsMommy:

She hasn't any problems making friends... she has school (she in the third grade), I am part of a local playgroup that covers all ages (for my 10 month old and my 8 year old), she takes part in after school activities (dance, chess club and next season will be chess club, tennis) etc.

I am a HUGE fan of after school activities as a way of socialization.

My son doesn't really have any problems making friends either.

[eilenej1]

Mine have trouble making long-term friends.  They get along well with kids in their class and kids we meet out in the world, but they don't have the close friends I remember having as a kid.  We live in a VERY small town on the edge of larger population centers.  When we sign up for sports, it is likely with kids from other schools - not our school.  We have few after school activities, most of which are religious based and we're not religious.  We're VERY far from family, so no cousins.

BUT - I found and joined a rec center from a neighboring town and hopefully we can get some consistency with sports team friends now.  They have baseball and soccer teams, maybe more teams for the older kids.  And I know that some of the kids on the team have played sports together for more than one year - but this is our first year there.

[cleo1977]

and like i say anti-bully bull crap!

[Kim24kids]

 My kids make them easy.

I would say just be yourself and if they don't like you for who you are .They were not meant to be your friend to begin with!

[Barabell]

My son makes friends very quickly, but I'm trying to work more with him on maintain his relationships.  The playdates that he does have are usually initiated by his friends, which doesn't bother me, but I'm trying to help my son understand that he also needs to take a greater initiative and show interest in maintaining friendships too.  I think he's slowly starting to understand it, and he's starting to be a little more vocal about asking his friends to get together with him.