It's true. Outside of school, my kids have no friends. Growing up, even though I attended a school miles from my home, I was painfully shy and fiercely private, but I still had a couple of across-the-street friends to play Monopoly with and go roller-skating with. My own kids? Not so much. Not at all, in fact: they play with each other and that's about it beyond occasional playdates with school buds. Apparently this is a trend, and as friendless as they may be, my kids are not alone.
According to a study that, uh, studied these things, kids today on average don't hang out alone with friends until they're about fourteen, despite the fact that their parents did so at ten. Which means that most of us have fears that the world isn't the rainbow-filled bubble it seemed to be when we were little. Helicopter parents? Maybe. Buying into media-fueled panics about missing children? Perhaps. But parental fears and the resulting lack of freedom for the kids, added to the rise of solitary activities like video and computer games, has resulted in the fact that one in five teenagers has no best friend.
So what to do? I don't have an answer for that one. I would love for my eleven-year old and seven-year old to have nearby friends to hang with, but I'm picky and scared. It's hard to let go of the apron strings. Not to mention the fact that my kids lack the social skills to find their own friends, even though there are apparently kids right in our little neighborhood.
What about your kids? Do they have friends? What age do you think is appropriate for your kids to be off alone with friends? Do you manage their friendships? Are we raising a generation of solitary kids?
