From the Counsellors
The importance friendship plays, the developmental nature of friendship, when to intervene and when to seek assistance
Children develop their sense of self from the relationships they form with others. They also learn how to give-and-take, and how to handle the emotions and expectations of others; skills that are vital in helping them grow emotionally and socially as they develop the sense of self and their place in their world.
As parents we become concerned if our child is having difficulty fitting in with their peer group and not having at least one friend they can rely on within the larger group. The following link takes you to an excerpt from the ebooklet 'Working with children who have difficulty making friends' by Zoe Ganim and Murray Evely.
Much of our counselling work in our Junior School, and some of our work in the Senior School, centres on the difficulties children face when navigating through friendship issues. We thought this resource may help you with background information to aid understanding if your child is suffering, if your child is supporting another who is finding relationship development challenging, or to provide you with strategies to support the child who has friendship difficulties.
The topics covered are The Importance of Friendship, Developmental Nature of Friendship from Young Children (up to age seven), Middle Childhood (seven - 11 years), Older Children and Adolescents (11 years and over), Who Is At Risk?, Fights and Friendship Issues, Social Exclusion, Toxic Friendship, Friendships and Social Media, When to Intervene, When to Seek Further Assistance, Strategies to Support the Child Who has Friendships Difficulties.
Andrea is currently on long service leave and Jan Chippingdale is replacing her until the end of August. Please don’t hesitate to contact Gai regarding your Junior School child or Jan regarding your Senior School child. We also work confidentially with parents to assist with matters related to your child.
Gai Bath and Jan Clippindale
SMC Counsellors