Even young children develop friendships. This indicates that they will continue to have friends throughout their lives. Research indicates that 75% of children of preschool age have already developed friendships with others of their age group. By the time they are teenagers, 85 to 90% of kids have several casual friends and one or two very close friends. Concepts of friendship change as children grow older. They tend to look at things in a different light, which helps them to build friendships to those who they are attracted to. This isn’t just the opposite gender. Teenagers are drawn to those of both genders for different reasons, such as popularity, sports, hobbies, interests etc.
Concepts of Friendship
A two year old toddler views friendship as reciprocity. These children love to help their friends solve simple problems. By the time kids enter school, they help their friends with problems and advice that they feel they can’t discuss with adults. Teenagers prefer to be with their friends and begin to gain independence by making their own decisions. They tend to tell their friends things they wouldn’t tell anyone else.
Toddlers learn from their peers. This is the age when they learn basic social skills. They develop the rudiments of proper play behavior and show definite preferences for certain playmates. Preschoolers and those in kindergarten identify certain kids as their friends. At this age children treat friends and other children quite differently. Friends are the kids they spend time playing with and engaging with in favorite activities.
As children progress through elementary school, they chose friends who have similar likes and dislikes and who are much like themselves; they become more group oriented at this age and the kids who are most popular are willingly accepted into groups. This can cause problems with children who aren’t as popular because of fear of rejection, conformity and inclusion/exclusion priorities.
Groups reflect the difference in gender. The relationships between girls are closer than those between boys most times. Girls tend to stick to small groups while boys form larger groups which often center on a specific sport. This can cause feelings of rejection for boys who are not good at, or don’t care to participate in sports.
When kids reach the age of adolescence, this grouping scenario tends to reverse. Girls form larger groups and boys tend to stick with one or two of best friends.