When your kid is a preschooler, it is you who builds and maintains friendly and secure relationships around them. Your interaction with your kid’s parents will help in giving your kid good friends.
If your child is toxicated by his/ her friends, they may adopt the same violent, improper, and reckless behavior in adulthood. Interacting with your kid’s parents is the best way to figure out the toxic friends of your child and respond accordingly.
This article discusses the benefits of interacting with your child’s friends’ parents. It presents the ways to deal with parents of your child’s friends.
Why to Interact with the parents of your child’s friends?
Here you need to know why it is necessary to interact with your child’s friends parents:
1. Get to Know your child’s Friends Parents:
Interaction with your child’s friends parents help you in determining the attitude of friends around your child. Altruism, self esteem, and self confidence in your child are interlinked with the attitude of friends around your child.
2. Helps to Create a secure environment for your child:
Keep your child away from the conflicting environment and offer a friendly interactive and growing environment. If you have a friendly relationship with your child’s parents, you can resolve the conflicts between your child and his/her friends.
3. How your child gets along with his/her friends:
As your child gets older, the relationships with his friends are more important as they spend most of their time in schools. Good friendship helps your child to develop self esteem and teaches important life skills.
These skills will help your kids to get along with their friends and resolve the conflicts with ease. A child with good friends is known to lead an emotionally and socially balanced life.
How to Deal With Child’s Friends’ Parents:
Here are the few ways that help in dealing with child’s friends’ parents
1. Maintain Good relationships with the parents of your children’s friends:
You may frequently go to your kid’s school to pick up or drop your child, for parents-teacher’s meetings, sports or annual celebrations. You may come across the parents of your child. Whenever you meet any of your child’s friends parents have a friendly interaction with them.
2. Always know who the parents are:
If your child says that he/she got new friends, then ask them to get some info from their parents. Never let your kid feel that you are interrogating them and you prefer something else other than their own feelings. Make your question about enquiring their question so genuine.
3. Invite your child’s friends parents to your home:
Invite your child’s friends’ parents to your home for parties, or festivals. This will help to build and strengthen the relationship of your child with his/her friends. Home invites can also give you an opportunity to nurture your relationship with your child’s friends’ parents.
4. Set Limits:
If you don’t like your kid’s friends’ parents, Don’t stop your kid from doing friendship with the ones they feel comfortable with. Allow your kid to follow their own instincts.
It is quite common sometimes fabulous kids may have non fabulous parents.
If you find that your child’s friends and their friend’s parents are extreme the put some limitations in their friendship and explain it gently to your child.
5. Cope with the Crazy Parents:
You may come across the overbearing parents who may speak endlessly about their kids. There are some other parents who try to insist on extreme discipline in their child. Never mimic them by being crazy yourself. What to do with those parents? How to deal with those crazy parents? Whether to encourage your child’s friendship with the child of overbearing parents or cut it down?
Here is your answer, it all depends on your child’s friend network. If your child has only a few friends, then you should compromise your feelings and let them continue their friendship. Equip your child with the things needed to deal with their friends if they are also overbearing.
6. Be a Positive role model for the parents of your child’s friends:
Some parents may often complain about their kids in front of other parents. This may damage the self respect and self security of the kids.
If you encounter the parents complaining about their kids, keep yourself calm and don’t make complaints for your kid. If the person you are speaking to is not aggressive and the one with the broad mind, you can tell them not tell tell negative things about your kids to others especially when kids are around.
7. Handle the uncomfortable situations:
Sometimes dealing with your children’s friends’ parents could be an uncomfortable and unpleasant experience sometimes. Remember that you are doing everything for the sake of your children and go along the situations without being anxious or irritated. Handle the situations gently and carefully.
For example you may need to invite the overbearing parents of your child’s fabulous friend. Even though you don’t like their parents invite them and offer respect at the party.
8. Don’t make your relationship with your child’s friends’ parents awkward:
Have friendly and well-meaning conversations with your child’s friends’ parents. If you turn your interaction aggressive over small and silly things, this may end up the relationship you have with your child’s friends’ parents. This may impact your child’s relationship as well.
In long you may hear of her child doing something harmful to your child. The best way to avoid these situations is to study the minds of the people before you speak.
9. Talk with them on phone frequently:
Talk with the parents of your child’s friends over the phone frequently. This helps in strengthening the relationship and knowing more about them.
Knowing more about your child’s friends’ parents is very important. Whenever you have to move out of the town immediately you need not to think about the accommodation of your kid. If you have trust in the parents of your kids you can safely leave your kid at their home for a sleepover.
10. Greet them while dropping off your child at home:
Greet the parents of your child’s friendly with some friendly phrases whenever you see them and invite them to your home if they go by the side of your home.
11. Meet them at the school events:
Meet your child’s friends’ parents at the school events or the neighbourhood parties. Depending on the level and the strength of your friendship you can also plan with them for the events.
12. Go For shopping with your kid’s friends’ Parents:
You can discuss the arrangements required for the kid’s school event and shop for the kid’s accessories required for the event. This gives an opportunity for you to study their minds more.
13. Have a family vacations together:
If you feel that parents off your kid’s friends are so kind and friendly, you can plan for family vacations along with your kid’s friend’s family during the long weekend or a one day trip to the local park. This helps to nurture the bond between both families.
14. Be friendly with their kids:
Be friendly and affectionate towards your child’s friend in front of the parents of their parents. This can create a positive impression in you and they may also adopt the same with your kids. This further makes the kids feel socially secure and confident.
15. Don’t shout their children:
If your child’s friend commits any mess during their visit to your home do not get angry or shout at the child. Compress your anger and use gentle phrases like “ it’s all common for the kids” to show your kindness.
16. Don’t complain about their kid:
Never discourage the parents of your child’s parents by complaining about their kids and never raise the negative qualities of their child. This will ultimately break the bond between your child and their child.
17. Explain them the conflicts gently:
If there are any conflicts between your child and his/her friend, get a complete overview and root cause for the conflict. If you think that it is a common and small issue, teach your child how to get adjust over the things and avoid them in the future.
If the conflict is of major concern explain it to the parents of your child’s friend in a kind, gentle and polite manner.
It is very important to maintain friendly relationships with your child’s friends’ parents to ensure that your child is surrounded by good and safe relationships. The 17 ways mentioned in this article will help you deal with the whole new set of parents.
