How to Help Your Child Make Friends
Friendship skills can be taught and practiced. Here's how to coach the small social moves, set up low-pressure playdates, and support a shy or struggling child.
By JULIApr 28, 20264 min
Emotions & Social Skills
Big feelings, strong friendships.
A child who can name a feeling is a child on the way to managing it. This section is about the inner life of childhood — teaching emotional regulation, talking about feelings without lectures, building genuine self-esteem and helping a shy or struggling child make friends. These are the quiet skills that shape how a person handles the rest of their life.
4 articles in this topic
Choose where to start
Understanding a feeling, practicing a response, feeling capable, and joining play are related but different skills. Choose a guide for the situation and adapt the words for how your child communicates.
Find words for an experience
Use short conversation starters without demanding a feeling label or a positive answer.
Practice a calming response
Try one option while calm and offer support during overwhelm.
Support confidence
Give specific encouragement and real responsibilities with enough assistance.
Help with joining play
Plan manageable invitations and recognize when exclusion needs adult action.
Do not judge progress by whether a child stops showing difficult feelings. Notice whether they can access help, communicate needs, and return to activities with support. Free family planners · Sources and limitations
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