Although young children\’s relationships with their brothers and sisters often carry over to relationships with other children, patterns established with siblings are not always repeated with friends. For example, a child who is dominated by an elder sibling can easily step into a dominant role with a playmate and by large, children are more pro social and playful with playmates than with siblings.

They may argue over bean bag toss with their siblings while outside, have more fun with playmates playing all weather corn toss bags. Not surprisingly, young children\’s relationships with their parents strongly influence how they get along with other children. Preschoolers who were securely attached as infants tend to have more friends and to be more socially competent than children who were insecurely attached.

The securely attached children are more emphatic. They respond to classmates who show distress whereas, insecurely attached children do not. (Scroufe, 1983).The parents of popular children generally have warm, positive relationships with their children. They teach by reasoning more than punishment. They are more likely to be authoritative and their children have learned to be both assertive and cooperative. Parents of rejected or isolated children, on the other hand have a different profile.

The mothers do not have confidence in their parenting, rarely praise their children and do not encourage independence. The father pay little attention to their children, dislike being disturbed by them and consider child rearing women\’s work. Furthermore, children seem to pick up social behaviors from their parents. Parents are powerful models in peer relationships as in other aspects of behavior.

Children\’s ability to get along with their playmates is not only an important factor in their environmental well-being, it also affects how well they do in school. Parents and teachers can help children make friends in a number of ways. Parents can make play dates for them. The children of parents who actively arrange their children\’s social lives have more playmates and see them more often.

Parents who monitor the preschooler\’s play indirectly by staying nearby but not getting involved in the play – tend to have more socially competent children.Children whose parents get right into the play activity are not so well-adjusted in the classroom, but it is not clear which comes first. Parents\’ early monitoring styles may influence the way their children play with others, or parents of children who are aggressive or do not play well on their own may feel they need to maintain more of a presence.

Other helpful adult activities include making a special effort to find a play group for young children who do not often have the opportunity to be with other youngsters, encouraging loners to play with small groups of two or three children, praising signs of empathy and responsiveness and teaching friendship skills indirectly through puppetry, role-playing and books about animals and children who learn to make friends. How children get along with their age-mates affects one of the most important activities of early childhood which is play.

Author Bio: William U. Steinmetz enjoys writing for Targettossgames.com which sells bean bag toss game and weather resistant cornhole bags as well as a host of additional products.

Category: Family Concerns
Keywords: family ties,children make friends,children play