Making friends: A Skill that Needs to be Practiced!

Have you ever stop to consider that making friends is a skill?

It is; it’s a skill that needs to be learned and practiced by all, especially our children.

If LIFE had a rewind button, I would definitely like to hit rewind and not miss the opportunity to help my daughter cultivate friendships, but I did!! ☹

When my daughter was in the 4th grade, she had the opportunity to make some real friendships.
I chaperoned one of her class field trips, AND for the first time, my daughter didn’t want to sit by me on the bus ride. She had her own friend she wanted to sit with it. This, of course, made my heart full!!! Her friend was from her inclusion class and a typical peer. On the bus ride, I watched them laugh, giggle and talk the entire trip which happened to be a couple of hours. It was so nice to see they were indeed friends… I realized this was the perfect opportunity for me to help foster and encourage the friendship and I did…a little.
I arranged a pizza lunch date, and a trip to the mall a couple times, but I didn’t REALLY know how to actually encourage the friendship. In the back of my head, I also kept thinking “there would be time…. there be time to make it happen”, but I’m here to tell you, a period of time passed and life went on; summer was over and fourth graders became fifth graders in different classes and then they went on to middle school and became six graders, etc…

I missed the opportunity when my daughter was younger and I don’t want any of you to miss the same opportunity with your children.

I know NOW that making friends is not a natural skill any of us are born with. It is a skill that needs to be learned, cultivated and practiced by all. Our kids need even more help and time to practice developing friendships.

Friendships and connections provide many benefits and a ripple effect on our children. There is the aspect of social interaction, happiness, self-esteem…the list could go on and on. As I said, I don’t want any of you to miss the opportunity with your children and wish you could hit the life rewind button!!

Take advantage of some excellent tips we provided through the links above. I love the advice from special needs mom, Julie, who tells us like it is and shares ways help our children cultivate friendships.

As special-needs moms, we all know life’s not fair!! So, know upfront, you’re going to have to do ALL the work!!!

But, it will be so worth it, in the end, to hear your child laughing and giggling with friends. Please take a look at the links provided and begin helping your children cultivate these friendships.

Remember, it’s not too late; don’t let the opportunities pass you by.

I’ll talk to you soon.

https://www.parentingspecialneeds.org/article/how-to-support-real-friendships-with-your-child-and-their-typical-classmates/

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