Friends are fun...and much more, especially for young children. Friends make important contributions in every area of children's development.

The Richness of Friendship

Haven't you seen that young children explore things and ideas in more imaginative ways when they're together with other children, than they do when alone or with adults? Haven't you heard children's language become richer and flow more easily when they're with a friend? Watch as a child teaches a friend new skills, like how to tie shoes or cut with scissors. They help each other feel confident.

Learning to be friends helps a child work at such things as leadership, cooperation, empathy, and self-assertion. Maybe most importantly, through friendship, children learn to gradually give up their self-centered view of the world and begin to see things from another person's point of view.

Working Out Conflicts

Of course, in the process of learning how to be a friend, children get into conflicts and disagreements. During the hard struggles of problems between friends, it can help children to have an adult nearby who cares about them and who encourages them over the hard parts of talking things through. It's your caring support that can help children make the effort to work things out. And that effort can make their friendships even stronger -- now and all through their lives.

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