The Power Of Friendship

Hanging out, breaking the rulesthe experiences you had with your childhood friends, will have helped shape the personyou are today.

- Dan Roberts

During a recent playdate, my almost three-year old son seemed to spend more time fighting and arguing with his friend, than playing. After an hour of intervening every time they quarrelled, I asked my son whether he was ready to go home. ‘No,’ came the response, ‘I’m having fun.’ Surprised, I pondered what friendship meant to him, and how my own childhood friendships have affected the ones I enjoy now.

It was only recently that psychologists discovered that our first real friendships begin to develop around the age of three. And although these relationships are often shortlived and quickly forgotten, they represent an emotional extreme. After all, beyond your family, the most important people in your life are likely to be your friends. If you think back to your formative friendships – forged in the neighbourhood or at school – and try to remember how they made you feel and you might recognise some of the sentiments that your adult friends elicit in you.

I distinctly recall my first friendships filling me with a sense of belonging and loyalty, as well as an appreciation of humour. While those particular relationships have long since faded, what has remained constant are the emotions that bind me to my grown-up friends – we feel that we fit in together, we defend one another and we share a love of the ridiculous and enjoy making one another laugh.

TEST YOUR SOCIAL SKILLS ON HOW YOU MAKE FRIENDS