Child psychologists and behavioural experts have long observed that when it comes to friendships, girls tend to display more ‘relational aggression’ than their male peers, which is when one person intentionally hurts someone close to them through their words and/or actions. Common examples of relational aggression includes gossiping, name-calling, exclusion and teasing etc, which in the short-term can cause anxiety, fear and upset, and in the long-term can even lead to depression and low self-esteem.

So as parents, what can we do to prevent our daughters from displaying relational aggression and encourage them to treat their friends with kindness and respect? Here are our top tips:

• Encourage empathy in your children so that they start to understand the effect that their behaviour (both positive and negative) can have on those around them.
• Model empathy, kindness and compassion in your life and avoid being verbally aggressive in front of them as this sends the message that it’s okay to speak to people disrespectfully.
• Give them as many opportunities to socialise as possible – the more they interact with others, the more confidence they will gain in their social skills.
• Help to build resilience in your kids by teaching them that other people’s opinions are only opinions, so they should take them as such and stand strong in the face of bullying. It’s also good to teach your children a couple of phrases they can say with confidence when people are mean to them such as ““Thank you for sharing, that is your opinion” or “That’s your opinion and you can keep it!”