Where are children's friends "bought"?
2025-10-04 19:22:00
Manjola Lloja Bushati
Do your children have friends? Do they talk to them?
Do they run to school or kindergarten because they are excited to see their friends waiting for them?
Do they buy a new toy, school supplies, candy, or gum with the desire to share it with a friend?
Can you hear him from the other room laughing while talking to his friends on the phone?
If so, believe me, you are lucky.
Because every day, the number of lonely children is increasing. And parents are desperate to find their friends... But are we looking in the right place?
For many reasons of safety, time, distance, routine, fear, and even negligence...many of us are making mistakes in this regard as well.
I had so many saved in the "notes" of my cell phone... ideas come to my mind from time to time that I put down and save there, until it's my turn to complete them later. I've returned to it several times this week, but in no case did I want to fall into the sadness or pessimism of the following cases that are published as alarm bells that we are taking revenge on children by leaving them alone. Sad and unfortunate cases are not only in our country... but in this situation that we face day after day, I want to believe that these topics should be talked about and discussed, not only when they make headlines... and then life goes on the same way.
* * *
Today I was at the National Puppet Theater to watch the play "The Billionaire Boy" with a friend's daughter.
I remembered the book years ago when it was published in Albanian by "Botart". Surprisingly, I have never heard of any case where children in schools are suggested to read it, even though the topic and lessons from it are so current... and the book is an international best seller by author David Williams.
But here are some young artists who have turned the subject of this book into a charming show for children. With colorful puppets, dynamic scenes and lots of good music, the child spectators, but also the parents, are told what theoretically we should all be very clear about: friends, the real ones, cannot be bought. With them you know life, the experiences we have together, the past time, the interests that unite us... and we must bring these back into the lives of our children as soon as possible. So after the show, I decided to continue my note... with a little more optimism and good energy that those almost 100 little ones who applauded when the stage curtain fell gave me. Then I learned that the tradition of such entertaining and educational shows for children on the RTSH screen is returning tomorrow after many, many years. I know, I seem emotional, maybe even nostalgic. To be honest, I don't have a problem with it. When a worthy initiative for children comes to life, I am there, ready to support it.
So here I am, with some simple examples, and within my knowledge, some suggestions.
For starters... no purchased game stimulates imagination and strengthens social intelligence like playing with real friends.
So instead of looking for the next toy store, let's think about how to put our child in front of his peers.
How can this be done?
Do we go out with our children? Let's understand that in our free time with them, we shouldn't take them to bars and restaurants...but to the park...to the few parks there are in our cities. And encourage them to hang out with each other...and invite them to interact.
Let them get dirty, let them scrape their knees a little, they will survive, just like we did :)
Do we take our children to after-school courses?
Well, let's choose group lessons, not individual ones. For example, if our child has a musical inclination, let's look for a children's choir, not for a teacher who comes to the other room and necessarily teaches solfeggio in individual sessions.
Can we encourage our child to invite his classmates, his apartment, his course friends to his house? Let them make a mess... "then who will do it" - my grandmother used to say... the same grandmother who also said that "raising a child is like opening a well with a needle".
I mean, yes, I know: this requires patience, attention, appropriate conditions. These are nothing more than what children need to grow up healthy...and certainly much less than what they risk facing in today's times...loneliness.
