Friendships in Early Life and the Preschool Years

Posted by Kelly Pfeiffer Jul 6, 2009

Infants and Relationships in Early Life

Did you know that the first relationships of life form the basis for friendship skills? A secure attachment teaches infants about the emotional safety level in trusting relationships. That's why healthy attachment helps children make friends later in life, in the toddler and preschool years and also into the teen and adult ages.

Two-Year-Olds: Social but Anti-Social

Knowing about typical social and emotional development can help adults understand why young children act the way they do at times. Parents and child care providers may want to know why it's hard for two-year-olds to share toys. Adults can better set expectations and limits for children when they understand typical behaviors at age two.

Three-Year-Olds: More Understanding of Others

Because of the rapid development of social and emotional skills between the ages of 24 and 36 months, three-year-olds are ready to start learning friendship skills, how to use their words to solve conflicts and how to have empathy for others. But because three-year-olds have not had lots of practice using friendship skills, they need plenty of help and coaching from adults. Also adults need to realize that three-year-olds will make plenty of mistakes on the path to acquiring and using friendship skills.

Give Opportunities for Preschooler to Interact Socially

Preschoolers need to be exposed to peers but also need quiet time to regroup. When preschoolers are new at solving conflicts with others, it can be overwhelming and young children often get emotionally overstimulated easily. Adults can set up play dates and peer interactions so that preschoolers have plenty of space for parallel play and creative type play. Read about these outdoor summer preschool playgroup ideas and learn how to set the scene for healthy peer interactions.