Preteen Friendships How To Keep Friendships through Relocation

Friendship and Journaling Preteens Friendships & Journaling—

It’s very common these days for families to relocate and there are many reasons it becomes necessary to move from one location to another. An employment opportunity for a parent is one good example of the need to relocate. Unfortunately, when we move from one place to another our pre-teens must leave friends behind. They are then faced with adjusting to a new environment and making new friends.

Encouraging your pre-teen to write in their journals during transitions can help them overcome the sadness of separation from old friends and also help them along the way as they make new ones. Here are some ways that journaling helps your preteen in their journey to making new friends.

Find Potential Friends

Finding friends in a place we are unfamiliar with can be a bit of a challenge by the simple fact that we are the new people in the area. When your tween finds herself in a similar situation, whether it’s a result of moving or just starting to attend a new school, their journal can become a place where they can write about these kinds of transitions and process some of the feelings that may be involved.

As your preteen becomes more acquainted with their new surroundings you should encourage them to find friends. Some potential friends can fairly easily be found at school, while others may be found in places like amusement parks or other similar type of locations where peers might hang out. As you talk to your pre-teen about these places encourage her to introduce herself to people she thinks she’ll like. Additionally, you should encourage your preteen to write in her journal about the places she went and the people she met there.

Invite Potential Friends Over or To An Event

Once your pre-teen has identified some potential friends you may want to suggest she invite her new friend(s) over for a visit. As a parent you do have a personal interest in the people your preteen associates with and inviting their peers over to your house is a very good way to do this. You and your tween could even plan an event of some kind to where several peers can be invited at the same time. This scenario is also good material for you to encourage your pre-teen to write about in her journal.

Develop & Maintain The Friendship

After your preteen has made some friends she will need to develop and maintain the friendship. For most pre-teen friends this is generally done at school. However, there will be those special friends of your tween that she will want to spend more time with than others. She will want to hang out with them at your house or the house of the friend for example. This is the way many young people develop and maintain their friendships and should be encouraged.

Also, it is these types of relationships that are fantastic for your tween to write about in her journal. They can this way be encouraged to think about what makes a good friend, and also think about people who perhaps have more of a negative effect on her. The journal is a safe place to explore these feelings and work out what qualities a child wants in a friend.

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Journal Buddies builds creative writing skills in boys and girls.