ChildLinks Issue 2: Children's Peer Relationships

Peer relationships and friendships are very important for children, enhancing a child’s sense of belonging and security, and bringing happiness, well-being and self-confidence. The skills needed to create positive peer relationships, such as learning how to understand and regulate emotions, how to relate to others, how to be patient and listen, how to share, take turns, solve problems, respond to challenges and get on with others, are all key for lifelong well-being. Supporting children to develop these skills is not a once-off activity and takes thought and understanding on the part of all of the adults in their lives. In this issue of ChildLinks, we examine children’s peer relationships and consider how we, as adults, can help children to form and maintain friendships, and develop their social skills and their confidence. In the first article, Dr Sonja Perren and colleagues outline their research examining the causal relation between social pretend play and children’s social development. They suggest that social pretend play activities might be a joyful alternative to conventional social skills training for fostering children’s social competence and integrating them into their peer group. This is followed by an article from researchers from University of Eastern Finland, who consider how peer relationships promote feelings of belonging and prevent peer exclusion, particularly for children with special educational needs, highlighting the importance of providing increased support for participation. The third article in this issue gives an overview of Barnardos’ experiences of running The Friendship Group programme, an evidence-based group work programme rooted in a strong understanding of children’s development. The programme helps children who are experiencing difficulty making and keeping friends to develop and practise the skills they need to interact appropriately with their peer group, and to form healthy friendships. Dr. Michelle Taylor, from California State University in the U.S. then examines the role that teachers play in supporting young children’s peer engagement at school, focusing on three unique categories of interactions: responsive caregiving, management and routines, and cognitive facilitation. This is followed by a second article from Barnardos exploring how educators can support children’s friendships in early childhood education and care settings. Psychotherapist Dr Richard Hogan then explores the increasing prevalence of anxiety among children and teenagers, and considers how positive peer relationships can support resilience. Finally, Dr Caron Carter, from Sheffield Hallam University in the UK, explores how young children select their friends, and how teachers and educators can use these insights to support the making and maintaining of children’s friendships.

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