All children benefit greatly from being with other children from a very young age. As a baby, your child just loved your company, but now as a toddler, their social circle is getting bigger.
Learning to make friends is something your toddler will pick up as time goes by. As they learn to talk and communicate with you, they’ll become better at relating to children their own age. If he or she is at a crèche or pre-school, the chances are that they have already made a few friends. If so, then it would be a good idea to invite them over to play sometimes, to allow your child to deepen his or her friendships.
If your child is still at home, then find out about a playgroup in your local area, or perhaps form one of your own. Simply taking your child to the local park will give them the opportunity to play with other children.
If your toddler has a friend over, and you put them down with a few toys to play with, they will either play with a toy together, or might even have a little spat about sharing a toy – this is fine – learning social skills is part of learning to get along together.
If your child is shy and prefers to stay around you when there are other children around, don’t force him to play with the other children, but rather let him do things at his own pace, and get used to the idea of socialising.
Learning to make friends is something your toddler will pick up as time goes by. As they learn to talk and communicate with you, they’ll become better at relating to children their own age. If he or she is at a crèche or pre-school, the chances are that they have already made a few friends. If so, then it would be a good idea to invite them over to play sometimes, to allow your child to deepen his or her friendships.
If your child is still at home, then find out about a playgroup in your local area, or perhaps form one of your own. Simply taking your child to the local park will give them the opportunity to play with other children.
If your toddler has a friend over, and you put them down with a few toys to play with, they will either play with a toy together, or might even have a little spat about sharing a toy – this is fine – learning social skills is part of learning to get along together.
If your child is shy and prefers to stay around you when there are other children around, don’t force him to play with the other children, but rather let him do things at his own pace, and get used to the idea of socialising.
