Teaching Kids Life Skills: Being a Good Friend
kidsactivitiesblog.com/24345/teaching-kids-2
Kristina
Have you struggled with teaching kids about friendships?
Making friends (and keeping them) are important life
skills to have. Here are some simple ways to help
teach your child about being a good friend. We at Kids
Activities Blog know the importance of friendship because the only way to
have a friend is to be a friend.
Teaching Kids
Having good friends makes you happy. Friendships can be developed
within families, in neighborhoods, in schools, and even over the internet. Being
a good friend is not a skill that kids just pick up from hanging out with other
children on the playground. Developing friendships takes a lot of work (both by
parents and kids), but can be one of the most rewarding things to happen in a
child’s life.
How can we teach kids about friendship?
1. Clearly explain what good friends do.
Good friends…
* Remember important things (birthdays, accomplishments,
etc.)
2. Read books about friendship. There are so many amazing
friendships portrayed in children and young adult literature. Some of my
favorite books to read with my kids are ones in the Frog and Toad series by
Arnold Lobel. Reading these books together gives us an opportunity to talk about
Frog and Toad’s relationship and the characteristics of a good friend (helpful,
thoughtful, supportive, generous, good listener, etc). We also love reading the
Elephant and Piggie series by Mo Willems. These
books show how friends can be very different from one another and still get
along. They emphasize the importance of being kind, sharing, and working
together to solve problems.
Life Skills
3. Role play how to be a good
friend. I like to keep a running list of friendship
scenarios (good and bad) that come up when my kids are having playdates with
their friends. Once we are home, my husband and I can role play the scenarios
while our son watches, or we can include him in the positive role and have him
practice positive friendship characteristics (sharing, saying kind words,
sticking up for a friend, etc.). We don’t typically role play the negative
situations because we like to emphasize the skills we want
to see. You can even write your own stories about the scenarios and read
them again and again.
4. Set a good example and be a good friend
yourself. This is one of the greatest ways
to teach kids about being a good friend. Talk to your kids about
your friends in positive ways. Make time for your friends and find opportunities
to help them, and bring your kids along so that they can be involved too. Think
about the characteristics you value in good friends and consistently demonstrate
them yourself.
5. Spend time with friends and new people. It is hard to
develop friendships if you aren’t around people! We love to get out and get involved in our community. We go
to parks, sign up for classes and sports activities, get outside and meet
neighbors, volunteer at schools, and participate in church and town events. We
also enjoy spending time together as a family because we want our kids to be
friends. We work together on home projects, play games, create, and do acts of kindness for one another.
What are some friendship building activities you can do?
Being a friend doesn’t always come naturally. You have to practice! When you
meet someone new you need to know how to maintain a conversation with them.
Being A Good Friend
Speed Chatting is a fun way to help kids develop good conversation
skills. Brainstorm some simple questions ahead of time, grab a friend,
set a timer, and encourage your child to ask his friend questions for one minute
while the friend listens and responds… then switch. Once they are done chatting,
encourage the kids to tell you what they learned about each other. Listening and
then sharing the information with someone else will help kids internalize what
they heard and remember it better.
Team building activities help develop friendships. Simple
activities we like to do together include building obstacle courses, making
forts, baking, and constructing blocks towers. All of these activities are
pretty open ended, require some problem solving and negotiation, and encourage
communication, which are all great friendship skills to have!
More Kids Activities
Teaching kids to be a good friend will help them make lasting friendships
throughout their lives. Life skills like these are important to learn at
an early age because it will become more natural for your child the more they
practice these skills. For more kids activities that teach kids about
being a good friend and other life skills, you may want to take a look at these
ideas:
kidsactivitiesblog.com/24345/teaching-kids-2
Kristina
Have you struggled with teaching kids about friendships?
Making friends (and keeping them) are important life
skills to have. Here are some simple ways to help
teach your child about being a good friend. We at Kids
Activities Blog know the importance of friendship because the only way to
have a friend is to be a friend.
Teaching Kids
Having good friends makes you happy. Friendships can be developed
within families, in neighborhoods, in schools, and even over the internet. Being
a good friend is not a skill that kids just pick up from hanging out with other
children on the playground. Developing friendships takes a lot of work (both by
parents and kids), but can be one of the most rewarding things to happen in a
child’s life.
How can we teach kids about friendship?
1. Clearly explain what good friends do.
Good friends…
* Remember important things (birthdays, accomplishments,
etc.)
- Are reliable.
- Do kind things for one another and use kind language.
- Help out when a friend is sad or has a problem.
- Like to spend time together.
- Have fun with one another.
2. Read books about friendship. There are so many amazing
friendships portrayed in children and young adult literature. Some of my
favorite books to read with my kids are ones in the Frog and Toad series by
Arnold Lobel. Reading these books together gives us an opportunity to talk about
Frog and Toad’s relationship and the characteristics of a good friend (helpful,
thoughtful, supportive, generous, good listener, etc). We also love reading the
Elephant and Piggie series by Mo Willems. These
books show how friends can be very different from one another and still get
along. They emphasize the importance of being kind, sharing, and working
together to solve problems.
Life Skills
3. Role play how to be a good
friend. I like to keep a running list of friendship
scenarios (good and bad) that come up when my kids are having playdates with
their friends. Once we are home, my husband and I can role play the scenarios
while our son watches, or we can include him in the positive role and have him
practice positive friendship characteristics (sharing, saying kind words,
sticking up for a friend, etc.). We don’t typically role play the negative
situations because we like to emphasize the skills we want
to see. You can even write your own stories about the scenarios and read
them again and again.
4. Set a good example and be a good friend
yourself. This is one of the greatest ways
to teach kids about being a good friend. Talk to your kids about
your friends in positive ways. Make time for your friends and find opportunities
to help them, and bring your kids along so that they can be involved too. Think
about the characteristics you value in good friends and consistently demonstrate
them yourself.
5. Spend time with friends and new people. It is hard to
develop friendships if you aren’t around people! We love to get out and get involved in our community. We go
to parks, sign up for classes and sports activities, get outside and meet
neighbors, volunteer at schools, and participate in church and town events. We
also enjoy spending time together as a family because we want our kids to be
friends. We work together on home projects, play games, create, and do acts of kindness for one another.
What are some friendship building activities you can do?
Being a friend doesn’t always come naturally. You have to practice! When you
meet someone new you need to know how to maintain a conversation with them.
Being A Good Friend
Speed Chatting is a fun way to help kids develop good conversation
skills. Brainstorm some simple questions ahead of time, grab a friend,
set a timer, and encourage your child to ask his friend questions for one minute
while the friend listens and responds… then switch. Once they are done chatting,
encourage the kids to tell you what they learned about each other. Listening and
then sharing the information with someone else will help kids internalize what
they heard and remember it better.
Team building activities help develop friendships. Simple
activities we like to do together include building obstacle courses, making
forts, baking, and constructing blocks towers. All of these activities are
pretty open ended, require some problem solving and negotiation, and encourage
communication, which are all great friendship skills to have!
More Kids Activities
Teaching kids to be a good friend will help them make lasting friendships
throughout their lives. Life skills like these are important to learn at
an early age because it will become more natural for your child the more they
practice these skills. For more kids activities that teach kids about
being a good friend and other life skills, you may want to take a look at these
ideas: