6 Tips To Help Children Who Feel Rejected
How can we help children who feel rejected? Unfortunately, today many children or adolescents feel rejected. In most cases, they feel this way because they perceive that they are different from their peers, friends or family, whether on a physical, verbal, sentimental or intellectual level.
Children who stand out for their grades, who are physically different or like to dress well, etc., with respect to their peers and friends are the ones who have the most ballots to be emptied and put aside. Although it is not essential that this be the case. Sometimes there are children who feel rejected and do not have any of the characteristics mentioned above.
Short-term consequences
Children who are rejected by their friends or peers see their psychological well-being threatened, since they are circumstances that produce significant stress on the child. Some of the consequences that this rejection can have are
- Increases anger and aggressiveness.
- Negative image of themselves.
- Symptoms of anxiety and depression.
- Psychosomatic pain (headache, belly pain, insomnia, etc.).
- Difficulty relating to others.
- Social isolation.
- Loss of interest and lack of energy.
- Concentration and attention problems.
- Learning difficulties and problems at school.
- Inability to enjoy what they have.
- Self-esteem problems.
Tips to help children who feel rejected
Parents can help our children if we suspect that they are in a situation of rejection by their peers. Here are some tips to help kids who feel rejected.
Encourage them not to go after anyone
We have to explain to the children, adapting to their age, that if a friend or colleague has put them aside and does not want to be with them, they do not have to keep trying to like them or be their friend.
If that group of children or classmates does not accept him as he is, it is not worth it to offer them his friendship and that surely there will be other children who have his tastes and with whom he is well when he is with them.
Encourage communication to help children who feel rejected
We must talk with the little one, listen to him and understand how he feels. We do not have to treat him as a victim or make him understand that there is no solution to this situation. For example, if you are not invited to a birthday, we can explain that there will surely be many more birthdays where you can have fun. The important thing is that you understand and express what you feel in case it happens again at another time.
Work on your social skills
On many occasions children do not know how to relate to others, they are embarrassed to start conversations with other children or they may not know how to do it.
For this reason, it is important to work with them different social skills that help them to relate, especially in more difficult situations, such as when it is necessary to resolve conflicts, explain the importance of assertiveness and self-control, etc.
Strengthen your self-esteem to help children who feel rejected
When a child is rejected the first thing that is damaged is his self-esteem ; they feel inferior and compare themselves with others, that is why it is essential to work on reinforcing it.
We should talk to the little one and try to downplay this rejection and explain that he is not alone, that he has his family and that he can always make new friends.
Another thing we have to make him understand is that it is not his fault that they reject him, but that others are not like him or have the same tastes. The solution is to look for guys with the same tastes, which surely there are.
Talk to the school and ask for help
Parents are not present at school and, therefore, we do not know exactly what happens in it, so it is important that we help ourselves from our children’s teachers to see their version of events.
If all the above tips do not improve the situation, we should talk to the teacher to tell us what is really happening with our little one at school and if he has observed that he is being rejected by his classmates, in case it is necessary that Talk to other parents to be able to solve this problem or even help him at the school level, because his performance has decreased as a result of this circumstance.
Seek professional help if necessary
If we see that our child is having a really bad time, he feels sad most of the day, without energy and has lost interest in everything that surrounds him, it would be advisable to seek professional help so that he can work with him and provide him with the skills necessary to be able to face this situation or others, if they happen again.
Ultimately, these tips can help children who feel rejected, although sometimes these are not enough. Sometimes this situation of rejection ends up turning into harassment and this is important that we detect it and find a solution.
If, as parents, we do not know what to do in this situation or we do not have the necessary strategies to help our child, following these tips can be very useful, as well as asking for help from a mental health professional, since this will guide us in a personalized way with the case of our son.
