Nursery World - Positive Relationships: A parent's guide to ... Friendships

Advice for parents about supporting their children's friendships from Penny Tassoni

Imagine the scene. It is home time. There are two questions that most parents ask at this point: 'what have you done?', followed by 'who did you play with?' While most parents become used to the child replying 'nothing' to the first question, the same is not true when it comes to friends. Even the most level-headed parent is likely to be slightly anxious when their child complains that they had no-one to play with. So, at what age should children have friendships, and is there anything that we can do as parents to help our children?

While most two-year-olds are not necessarily good at sharing, they can be very interested in other children. The term 'parallel play' was coined to express the way that we might see two or three children of a similar age engaged in the same activity. Across a pile of Duplo bricks, they may exchange glances, smile and particularly copy each other. Thus, as soon as one child starts to throw the bricks, another one will join in too.

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