Children Need Friends
Friends are an endless source of support. ... We may even take for granted our ability to make friends. For children acquiring the skills necessary to develop friendships involves hard work. ... Children acquire basic social skills by watching their parents and imitating their social behaviours. But parents play a bigger role in helping their children develop social skills that will assist them in building lasting friendships. They are the vehicles by which children met and interact with other children. Parents who arrange informal playgroups for their children tend to have preschoolers with large peer networks and advanced social skills (Berk 379). Most preschool children have friends that they have made in their neighbourhoods or at childcare (Goodman and Gurian). They way they interact with their friends changes as they get older. ... As their social development continues children begin to identify specific children as friends and they begin to interact differently with friends than non-friends (Gurian and Pope). “Preschoolers will engage in more frequent cooperative exchanges with their friends than with neutral associates or with children whom they don’t like” (Hartup).