Love & Friendship Lessons for Children

Role-Play

• Kids who are impetuous, overactive, shy or uncomfortable in groups benefit from role-playing how to meet and integrate into play and conversations, according to Dr. Carolyn Webster-Stratton, founder of The Incredible Years, a parent and teaching training program. Help your child learn friendship skills through role-play. You can demonstrate appropriate behavior by interacting with him like a friend would, and gently correct his missteps through modeling and discussion. You can encourage him to direct a party with his toys as guests or act it out with puppets. Once he has a handle on basic skills, you can facilitate inviting a few friends over to give real-world practice to what he has learned, suggests Webster-Straton.

Literature

• Stories are an effective way to talk and teach about friendship and love. Christian parents can use Bible illustrations such as Jonathan and David, Ruth and Naomi, the Good Samaritan and others to display friendship and love to children. All parents can use books such as Arnold Lobel̵7;s Frog and Toad series, E.B. White̵7;s ̶0;Charlotte̵7;s Web,̶1; Tolkien̵7;s ̶0;The Hobbit̶1; and ̶0;Lord of the Rings̶1; series and C.S. Lewis̵7;s ̶0;Chronicles of Narnia.̶1; There are stories for kids of all ages. You can talk about what friendship looks like, what happens when friends don̵7;t act like friends and how they make up when they don̵7;t act in a very loving manner, suggests the Learning to Give̵7;s lesson plan for friendship and unity in the community.

Social Skills

• There are various ways to teach social skills such as cooperation, sharing, conflict-management, taking turns, waiting for turns and identifying and responding to feelings, according to Webster-Stratton. Sponsor team-building activities such as building a wall with blocks, building a snowman, playing tug-of-war, playing board or card games with partners and service projects such as picking up trash in the park or collecting canned goods for a food drive. Encourage your child to talk about goals with teammates, work cooperatively to meet them and celebrate the fruits of their labors.

Kindness in Action

• Kindness in action is an effective way to demonstrate love and friendship for others. Encourage your child to engage in random acts of kindness, such as helping a neighbor rake leaves or dropping off a bag of groceries to a family in need. Teach her to look for ways to be a friend to someone who doesn̵7;t have a lot of friends, by watching to see who doesn̵7;t get picked for games, seems to always be alone or appears to be sad. Let her know her efforts might not always be appreciated, but she could also make someone̵7;s day when they need a friend the most.