Although we may think that making friends as a child comes naturally, for some children it can be a difficult, scary and worrying prospect. Shyness, lack of confidence and, sometimes, just plain selfishness can stand in the way of your child developing meaningful and lasting friendships.

As parents and adults we know that making friends as children can help develop a sense of self worth, educate us in dealing with conflict and disagreements, and enable us to learn how to interact with our peers and colleagues day-to-day. They can also offer a valuable source of support, love, protection and influence outside the family unit.

In contrast, a failure to make friends can leave a child feeling depressed, lacking in confidence and generally ‘left out’. Socially, children develop more quickly if they have friends they can talk to and at school, lessons and free time are more fun and productive if a child has friends. So how, as a parent, can you help your child develop meaningful and lasting friendships?

This new book sets out to help parents understand friendship, why it’s important and how they can help their child make and keep friends. It shows every parent how they can help their child, from the first steps of encouraging them to share their toys right through to building their confidence and helping them find and nurture the friendships they’ll hopefully take into adulthood.

- Help your child build the skills they need to make friends.

- Learn how you can build and augment your child’s confidence and self-esteem.

- Help your child to develop and learn to depend on their own sense of self-worth.

- Teach your child positive behaviour and how they can influence, negotiate, share and defend.

- Learn about bullying; recognise the signs, how you can prevent it and how it affects your child.