Friends Forever: How Parents Can Help Their Kids Make and Keep Good Friends

Summary

The author presents a systematic plan for parents helping kids make and sustain friendships including: *Making time for friends by not overscheduling *Developing interests that attract friends. Dancing and sports are in; solitary video games out. *Finding friends in the neighborhood. * The potential for a positive role with internet social networking as a way to meet and stay connected — including instant messsaging, web sites, blogs, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. Addiction can become a problem but the correct and supervised use of internet and social networking is now an essential part of kids' friendship. * Dealing with Teasing & Bullying * Learning social and emotional intelligence skills like listening, empathy, compassion, recreational conversation. * Modeling friendships in your own life, at work, in the neighborhood, and at home. * Helping kids deal with and survive stormy friendships. The author's philosophy is that parents can take on the important role as model, advocate, champion, and facilitator, in a highly effective and important way. Kids must have friends, it's essential, and we can help.