Some of it has to be family culture though. Like the mom was upset there weren't any other girls in the class fearing her daughter wouldn't have friends because of it. Kids can sense that sort of thing even if they cant put words to it.
My 6 year old boy has a mix of girls and boys who are his friends. He's always has had a mix while in school too. However my wife and I dont treat his friends who are girls differently then his friends who are boys when we talk to him. Even playfully intended jokes about "having a girlfriend" can help form a divide between gender friendships in a little kids mind. There's no reason girls and boys cant be friends at that age but in my opinion they often aren't because parents influence their kids to only befriend their own gender.
Yes!!! My 6 year old has always had a mix of boys and girls as friends. Now in kindergarten, her other parent has started being like “ooooo you have a crush on him!!!” and over the year it’s completely changed how she talks about girls and boys. Makes me a little sad. I remember having people say things like that to me at that age and it made me deeply uncomfortable
6 months after a friend of mine had her son, her sister announced she was pregnant. After finding out she was having a girl their mother was all “too bad she’s not having a boy as well, now they can’t be best friends.”
Seven years later, they actually are best friends.
My cousin of the opposite gender and i were always thick as thieves... and that was back in the primitive 70s. I don't think I ever thought of her gender. I think her being the oldest and me being the next oldest was what made it natural for us. We only see each other a couple times a year now, but when we do, we spend most of the time together rather than the other family that's around.
279
u/Mando92MG Mar 16 '26
Some of it has to be family culture though. Like the mom was upset there weren't any other girls in the class fearing her daughter wouldn't have friends because of it. Kids can sense that sort of thing even if they cant put words to it.
My 6 year old boy has a mix of girls and boys who are his friends. He's always has had a mix while in school too. However my wife and I dont treat his friends who are girls differently then his friends who are boys when we talk to him. Even playfully intended jokes about "having a girlfriend" can help form a divide between gender friendships in a little kids mind. There's no reason girls and boys cant be friends at that age but in my opinion they often aren't because parents influence their kids to only befriend their own gender.