I Can Make New Friends

Does your child appear unhappy or lonely at school? Perhaps they have a tendency to think negatively and doubt themselves? Do they worry about what other children think about them? These could be signs that your child is struggling to make friends.

This practical guide combines cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and mindfulness methods with simple activities to help your child develop the skills help your child feel comfortable and confident in social settings where they may have the opportunity to make new friends and acquaintances. It’s aimed at children ages 6 to 10 because a lot happens in these years that can impact a child’s emotional well-being, not just now but for years to come.

I Can Make New Friends is full of great information, fun activities, and top tips to help your child feel happy and balanced. Activities include:

• Friendship quiz
• All about emotions
• Feeling left out
• Mirror drawing
• Scavenger hunt
• Asking for help
• Bad friends and bullies
• Belly breathing
• Finding your happy place
• Calm coloring
• Make a friendship guide
• And more!

Your child will be guided, with the help of Blip—a friendly and supportive character they can identify with—through fun and engaging activities which are interspersed with useful tips, inspirational affirmations, and practical information for parents, grandparents, teachers, and caregivers of all sorts.

Poppy O'Neill runs a writers’ retreat in Portsmouth. Her short stories and nonfiction have appeared in various literary magazines and anthologies, and her flash fiction has been long-listed for the Bath Flash Fiction Award and the Bristol Prize. She is the author of Sometimes I'm Anxious, Believing in Me, I Love Being Me, I Can Be Brave, Sometimes I'm Shy, and Sometimes I'm Sad. She resides in Chichester, England.

"This friendly, interactive workbook by Poppy O’Neill is written in a way that helps the young reader to understand themselves and be kind to themselves and others, thus helping to develop self-confidence, compassion and empathy." —Amanda Ashman-Wymbs, counselor and psychotherapist, from the Foreword