Adolescence is a period of change, a stage between childhood and adulthood that brings chaos in every way. The reference figures stop being mom and dad, and become friends. Parents often feel this distancing sadly, although it must be seen as part of the natural evolutionary process of our children rather than as a personal rejection. Today we are going to talk about the importance of friendship in adolescence.
Adolescence
Although it may seem like a distant stage, we have all gone through it. Some of us have passed it with greater pain or glory, but you cannot escape it. It is a very important moment of social and affective development in a person's life, where our personality and search for a place in the world are being defined. In this process the family takes a back seat, and seeks to be with equals, friends.
In friends, adolescents are looking for their own identity as people. The family is no longer there to say what to do or not to do, or how you are or stop being. Friends are your peer group, with whom you feel good. You want to know who they are, meet people, explore the world and network. With many fears and complexes, with revolutionized hormones but with the illusion that only teenagers have.
They begin to question the norms of the elderly and try to keep their distance from their parents. But they are still scared children who need the love and affection of their parents, to know that they are there for them, although now from a greater distance so that they can discover the world on their own.
The importance of friendship in adolescence
Friends during adolescence are very important for several reasons:
- Identity. As we saw before, within the group even if they get together with equals, that is where they find their own essence. Although from the outside it may seem to us that they all wear the same dresses or hairstyles, each of them is looking for their differences but within a group that gives them security.
- Acceptance. Adolescence is a time of insecurity, physical and hormonal changes that are not always carried with acceptance. Looking for a group of people your age who are going through the same thing at the time gives them security and acceptance. He is one of the group, do not feel alone in their chaos. This allows them to better adapt to changes and boost their self-esteem.
- Your first relationships of trust. Adolescents tend to get together by affinity, and that is where they begin to create their first bonds of security and trust with people outside their family.
- Support in similar problems. Friends are usually the same age and are going through the same or similar, which is very helpful. He is someone who understands and helps them, while parents are seen as someone more distant with whom they do not identify so much in their problems.
The influence of friends
Peer pressure in adolescence is there, and it can be for both good and bad. This is what can worry parents the most when their children reach adolescence, that they get together with bad company.
To avoid these concerns it is best instill in our children from very small values that guide their behavior so that they are not so influenceable. So that they know how to differentiate what is good from what is not, and that they influence their decisions beneficially. Do not view your children's friends as the enemy, or they will stray further away. The ideal is keep good communicationLet them know that they can talk to you if they have any problem without being judged and that you will be there for when they need you.
Why remember ... friendship in adolescence is very important so that they can develop in a healthy way.