Children define friendship differently at various stages of their lives. During preschool years, a friend is someone who likes her, or spends a lot of time playing with her, or shares her toys. When she gets a little bit older, kindness becomes the basis for friendship. These involve acts of kindness that mean a person can be counted on to support the other. When she becomes adolescent, friendship takes on greater depth. Friends at this time are viewed as important in relieving psychological distresses such as loneliness, sadness and fear.
Warm, supportive friendships enhance the development of children. When a parent has a close friendship relationship with his or her own child, it provides opportunities to develop a wide variety of social and cognitive skills. Through open and honest communication, parent and child become sensitive to each other’s strengths and weaknesses, needs and desires.
If you are your child’s friend, you will have the opportunity to get to know him well. Being a best friend to your child helps him deal with the stresses of everyday life because the bonding between you enhances sensitivity to and concern for one another. It can also improve his attitude towards involvement in school and recent studies show that friendships between parents and kids promote good school adjustment.
So, how can you become your child’s best friend?
- Spend quality time with your child. It can be as simple as playing board games with your child. Cooking spaghetti and baking cookies together are another way of spending time together. It will also help a lot if you spend quality time with each one of your kids, like going camping together and making sure that you have all the camping gear necessary to make your trip a very memorable one for your child.
- Keep your promises. Of course, there would be times that you wouldn’t be able to fulfill your promises, but if that happens, be ready to apologize and explain why you missed fulfilling them.
- Show emotional support. Encourage your child when he or she is discouraged. Give comfort when he or she is sad. Enjoy and show enthusiasm at his or her successes.
It’s very important for children to see their parents as people who try their best to be available, to give, and to help even if it entails a lot of sacrifice. Of course, it’s equally important that you eventually allow your children to develop friendships outside the home, but when that happens, you have already nurtured a long-lasting friendship with him.
glass splashbacks (3)
Jessica Cassidy (3)
film thickness gauge (2)
FoodTripFriday (2)
Sahm's Dining Diary (2)
anxiety treatment... (1)
Berto and Kwala (1)
Cheap Shoes (1)
Cheerful (1)
Cielo (1)
Recent Comments