How to help kids make friends

1. Be an “emotion coach."

Everybody has negative emotions and selfish impulses. But to make friends, we need to keep these responses under control. Studies of Western kids suggest that children develop better emotional self-control when their parents talk to them about their feelings in a sympathetic, problem-solving way.

2. Teach kids how to converse in a polite way

The earliest lessons kids learn about communication happen at home, and it seems they make a difference. A number of experimental studies have reported that unpopular kids improve their status with peers after they’ve been trained in “active listening"

3. Foster empathy and sympathetic concern for others.

Although even babies shown signs of empathy, I think it’s a mistake to imagine that full-blown empathy will “just emerge" if you leave kids alone.

4. Help kids “read" facial expressions.

You might think that interpreting facial expressions is a “no-brainer," but experiments suggest that elementary school children can benefit from practice. Read more about it, and about specific activities kids can try to practice reading faces.

5. Coach kids on how to cope with tricky social situations.

Let’s get really specific. If you see some children playing and you want to join them, how do you go about it?

As far as the above methods are abstract, we must practice them in our daily life. Let children play together is the most direct and effective way. Toys are children's most important friends.Kids need play.