"Flourishing Friendships"

"A circle is round it has no end...that's how long I want to be your friend"

Your child’s world gets bigger when she starts school. Relationships with other people – like the children in her class at school – become more important.

Friendships are good for your school-age child’s self-esteem. When your child has good friends, she feels like she belongs. Her friends care about her, and this helps her feel good about herself.

Friendships help children develop important life skills like getting along with other people and sorting out conflicts and problems. Children with these skills are less likely to have social and emotional difficulties later in life.

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Friendship is like a garden. You have those plants that have been there forever - the oak trees with deep roots and strong branches, able to weather any storm. The new trees are much smaller, but they have the potential one day to be as strong. It just takes time and patience to grow into that resilience.

Then, you have the seasonal plants. These are wonderful - the flowers that paint the garden with diversity and beauty. Still, deep down you know they will not be in the garden forever, but you enjoy them while they are here.

And then, when the new season rolls around, you enjoy the next round of intricate foliage.

Still, in any garden, there are times when you might over-water or forget to water a plant - both devastating mistakes. Other times, you may scatter the seeds in weak soil, and the plant grows shallow roots; then, when the storm comes, the plants are not strong enough to survive. Nevertheless, your garden still remains beautiful in the long run.

No one is perfect, and gardening - and friendship - isn't either. But, it is still worth it in the end.