FRIENDSHIP IN MIDDLE CHILDHOOD.

Friendship in middle childhood.



Friendship in Middle Childhood

Introduction

Children have a different perspective of friendship as compare to adults. Adults make friends with volunteer consent. For many children under age 10 or 12, friendship is outside their mental capability. Those children, however, face incomplete friendship but with sophisticated ways, starting with fundamental construct at around 3 years of age. (Rose and Asher 2000, p.705).

Time spent with friends is the most unforgettable memory when we think of our childhood. We learned a lot of things from our friends apart from the family. Santrock says child, while communication with peers compare his life or family matters with the peer's one. Children in their early childhood acquire many things and habits from peers. A lot of friends are made at school; development of friendship in a child's life is very important. The time spent with peers gradually increases as child enter into middle childhood and late childhood. (Santrock 1999, p.150-165)

Importance of childhood friendship can be understood by following facts:

Friend is like a companion who likes to spend time and cooperate with friend. Interaction with friends gives joy and excitement; it helps in assistance, share time and resources. Friendship gives physical and psychological support, courage, and provides a room to express their thoughts & ideas. Friendship also develops the relationship of trust and sympathy. Children in their middle childhood make friendship with those who are having similar thoughts, ideas, style, routine, and taste.

Friendship in middle childhood impacts a child's future life. Harry Sullivan highlights the importance of child hood's friendship and says if the need of companionship does not meet then life become bored and miserable. If social needs are not fulfilled, we feel lower self respect. Friend fulfills all these needs when be become adolescent. If we could not find friends in adolescence we suffer from lower self esteem.

Discussion

Humans is social animals. We are here in the world as a system of collective human being we cannot isolate ourselves from other human beings. We are interrelated to each other, even an infant respond to human action. In childhood, in preschool, play group, and childcare setting, children interact with other children of their age group outside their family. The relation of friendship, children has among each other is quite different from the relationship they have with their parents. Relationship with family provides closeness, sense of understanding, and ease. But these relationships are not substitute of friendship with others.

What are friends for?

Fiends play a very important role in the child's social and emotional development. Friendship in middle childhood provides a platform for multiple types of training. Children learn to share of resources, time, feeling, grieves, and happiness from friendship in their middle childhood. They learn to manage resources, decision making, when facing difficulties. They start experiencing anger, hunger, fear, and aggression. They get to know the worth of win and lose, what is to be done and what is ...