Adolescent Friendships Are Important

Positive friendships are so important to all of us but especially when kids are teens. My daughter has a few very good friends and fortunately I am very lucky that the kids she chooses to be friends with are kids I would pick for her myself.  Today we had a friend over that she has been in school with since preschool but not one that she hangs out with outside of school.  I know that during the day they are together but it wasn't until I saw them together and spent a few hours with them where I really saw just how important this friendship is.

It was wonderful to hear her friend speak so kindly to my daughter and see the comfort they found being together.  When my daughter mentioned a photo that she felt she looked terrible "boyish" in, her friend was quick to say, "You are so pretty. I hate when you are so hard on yourself." We all need that friend who is there to lift us when we feel we are less than. Even if all her friends words don't alll sink in, maybe just hearing them from someone other than me or her dad will stick somehow and she will see how special she is. Teens need more than their parents as they get older. Their friends are a huge part of their lives as they journey into adulthood and hopefully they all have friends who are positive, accepting, and supportive.

Friendships that last for years, that show a history between two people is so very important to our soul and I hope to get these girls together more often outside of school.

I loved listening to them talk today, play a board game with me, cook dinner together and just hang. Hopefully my daughter will have friends that last well  into her adulthood life as I do. Knowing these people are in my life gives me such warmth and happiness even if we don't see each other. In an age of social media I was so happy to see these two in the same orbit for a few hours today.

They were sweet enough to re-enact this pic from their preschool graduation for me today.  I love them both!

In this age of online friendships, make sure you get your children to be with their friends. They feel that because they just spoke online they were together but there is nothing like being "together".