Friendship is a relationship between individuals or individual groups that have influenced which are describe the behavior of mutual cooperation to protect and respect each other. Through friends/peers you can learn kindness, love, virtue, sympathy, empathy, loyalty, forgiveness and enjoyment of each other’s company and also the ability to be oneself, express one’s feelings to others and especially make mistakes without fear of judgement from the friend. Friendship is an essential aspect of relationship building skills. Having a friend that you can rely on is important in our lives especially to teens that are going through adolescence. In adolescence, friendships become more giving, frank, supportive, and spontaneous.
As they get older, teenagers become less dependent on parents and more on their friends. Friends play a big role in a teen’s daily life. Teens do everything with their friends whether through shopping and playing sports to picking out which colleges they want to go to. The friendships teens make in school especially in high school have a strong impact on their way of thinking. The type of friends make can sometimes determine what type of person they are or will become in the future. As students spend more time with their friends because most of the time they are inside of the school they start to feel distant to their parents.
In fact, parents sometimes feel ignored or abandoned by their children in favour of friendships.
But this developmental stage is completely natural, according to Daniel J. Siegel
Because that’s on whom you’re going to depend on when you leave home. Often, in the wild, a mammal without an adolescent peer group is as good as dead. So connecting with a peer group can feel like a matter of survival.” In adolescence, teen friends are often more important than adults in helping teenagers move past difficult situations. “Being among peers during times of stress may offer teens an open, supportive, and rewarding space which may help dampen the emotional turbulence that adolescence can bring.
Especially relevant, parents should avoid judging their teenager’s friends. The more accepting they can be, the better. The priority is to maintain closeness and communication between parents and teens. Therefore, teen friendships matter a lot. They’re a huge part of growing into adulthood. But no matter how important their friends are, the significance of teen relationships with parents can never be underestimated since no one can replace the unconditional love a parent have for their child.
References:
https://www.newportacademy.com/resources/empowering-teens/teen-friendships/
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Great article