Parenting: Helping Children Deal with Social Issues

Parenting: Helping Children Deal with Social Issues - as part of the expert series by GeoBeats. Helping Children Deal with Social Issues The best way to find out what's happening with your child at school is to not ask directly “how was your day” because most kids can't answer that question, its just too big of a question, so they'll just say “fine” and then try to get on to the next subject. If you ask a specific question such as “who did you sit next to at lunch today” or “who was the student of the week” and “what did you learn about that student of the week” then you've got a conversation rolling when you hook it to specific information. Another really good way to help a child talk about what happened at school is to go for a walk or a car ride with your child because if you're both moving together in the same direction its much easier for the communication to flow from your child. If your child is having some problems with particular kids at school you could roll play, you could be your child and he or she could be the other kid. And just go through the situation exactly as your child tells you that it happened and then replay it with maybe a better response from your child so that he or she can get along better with the kids or feel more included with the kids. If things continue and you see that over several months things aren't getting better even though you're doing regular, you know, finding out what's going on with your child and roll playing a better way of doing things then you want to involve the teacher, the school counselor, the school social worker. And they're all well trained to help kids get along socially in school. And some of them might even have contacted you because they're usually very tuned in to this kind of thing. And so what you want to do is seek their advice on ways kids can get along better and maybe they'll have a few sessions with your child in school and you can reinforce what they're doing at home. And please note that it's not etched in stone that your child will never get along socially because childhood friendships are very fluid; they come and go; kids are fickle at this age and so please note that they will change. They may find just the perfect kid next year or next month the perfect kid might move in to the school district, and then problem solved. There's a lot of hope, so just stick with your child. Be in the present moment, find out what's in his or her heart, do some roll playing and give her some alternative ways to interact with other kids, and she'll probably be just fine.