Friends and Friendships of your Child during Preschool Period

During the preschool years, the child also begins to spend more time with other children, playing with them and enjoying their company. Peer interactions do not necessarily begin in the early childhood period, as even infants are often given the opportunity to play with others their own age.

During this period, however, the child’s interest in and involvement with other children are continually expanding and changing. The child actively seeks out his peers, he has a preference for playing with children who are the same age  as he is and who have the same energy level and activity. With age he becomes increasingly sociable in his interactions with other children, making friends with some of them.

Having a friend and being someone’s friend are very important to preschool children. They frequently initiate social contact with one another by asking” Can you be my friend” and they attempt to persuade one another to share toys by saying “I’ll be your friend.”  However, they do not, until the school-age years, have a clear conception of friendship as an enduring relationship. Whereas the older child views friendship as a relationship that takes shape over a period of time and regards friends as providers of intimacy and support, the preschool child characteristically views his friends simply as momentary playmates. That is, whomever he may be playing with at a particular time is considered a friend. Unlike the older child, the preschool child focuses on the physical attributes of his playmates rather than on their psychological attributes such as interests or personality qualities.

The value of peer relations is really great. Although the children are unable to conceive of friendship as an enduring relationship, children’s interactions with one another do, in many cases, endure over a long period of time and they are of vital importance. Researchers have shown that the opportunity to interact with children at the same age is not only desirable but necessary for normal social development. Children who do not play with agemates miss out important social learning experiences and are at considerable risk of becoming socially inept and uncertain of themselves in interpersonal situations later in life. These findings are derived from studies of children who have trouble establishing social relationships with other children and who they encounter. It is not known whether these children became socially incompetent because they lacked contact with other children or if they became socially isolated because of prior social incompetence.

Relationships with peers also provide preschool children with a way to compare themselves to others their own age. Children are also valuable social resources for one another. They learn a number of social skills through their interactions, including how to approach another child and initiate an interaction and how to maintain the interaction.

This useful information will definitely make you better understand your child abilities and future actions. As you see, there are several important points which you should follow. You child should have as much as possible contacts with other children at same age. It will greatly improve your child’s learning and life experience.