Today, we're going to talk about friendships 

School, the neighborhood, extracurricular activities... so many opportunities for our kids to forge bonds, explore enriching friendships and polish their precious soft skills. 

What are the benefits of friendship?

Friends are an important support for your kids, creating a network outside the family circle. They can share moments of joy, sadness and doubt with people other than you. 

It's also through these friendships that kids will develop their self-awareness and interests.

So it's important to encourage them to make friends!

Here are a few tips to help:

1️⃣ Explain the difference between a friend and a comrade: With a friend, you share your feelings, you're loyal, you keep secrets, you share the good times and the bad.

2️⃣ Explain that friendship means cultivating self-control and respect. With friends, we must learn to share, but also to find solutions together when we disagree, and we have the right to disagree.

3️⃣ Explain that to make friends, you need to have good manners: look the person in the eye, be nice, like asking how things are going. But also listen, compliment, play fair, be a team player and sometimes make small sacrifices...

4️⃣ Also explain to children that some things are private and that they don't have to share everything. You can teach them to say "I don't talk about those things". Ex: politics or sexuality etc.

A little thought exercise: Ask your child what qualities he or she looks for in a friend. 

And let's not forget: a true friend loves your child as he or she is, without wanting to change him or her. 

In conclusion, friendship is a school of life: it builds self-confidence, autonomy, empathy, loyalty and mutual respect. Treasures that enrich our children's interpersonal skills forever.

The Soft Kids team 🌈