Three Ways to Encourage Your Child to Bring Friends Around to Visit

As parents, we’re always going to be concerned about the well-being of our child and there will always be small hints and signs that we might pick out and turn into worry. For instance, if your child never brings home school friends or goes out to play with other children in the neighborhood, then we might be concerned about bullying or perhaps your child is embarrassed about bringing home friends.

In this article, we’re going to talk about three different ways to encourage your kids to bring home friends after school or invite them around for sleepovers and parties on the weekends.

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1. Be there for your child

Some kids love to have the house to themselves, but we find that it’s actually more encouraging for your child to bring home friends when you’re around. This is because you can take care of them and offer them snacks, drinks or even cook them up some dinner. In fact, if you’re quite an experienced baker, then you could always prepare some sweets like pie and cookies to serve to your child’s friends. You’ll also want to keep lots of drinks ready so that they can help themselves and make them feel welcome. However, do keep their health in mind and try and cut down on the sugar!

2. Get your house prepared

Your child may be slightly embarrassed to bring friends over especially if they’ve been around a friend’s house countless times. For example, if you’re usually not at home and your child’s older siblings like to throw around dirty laundry and leave messy plate and dishes everywhere, then it might be holding your child back from inviting friends over. You may even need to hire a pest control service to deal with bugs or insect sightings that could put your child off inviting friends over. There could be many things holding your child back, so make sure you speak to them if you simply just can’t work out why they might be feeling embarrassed or held back by your home.

3. Give your child space

Although we mentioned being there for your child in the first tip, we think that it’s equally important to give your child space so that they can do what they want with their friends. We don’t want to overwhelm our children and we certainly don’t want to sit with them while they’re hanging out with their friends unless they’ve specifically invited you to help them or do something. Many kids are proud of their parents and want them around all the time when friends are over, but some kids prefer to be alone with their friends in their room. Sometimes they might want to hog the TV or your tablet and sometimes the lack of seats in your living room may force you into the kitchen. Either way, it’s important that your child is having fun and socializing, even if it means you might miss watching your favorite show on the main TV!