As it is in many other aspects of children's development, having warm, supportive, and encouraging parents to which the child feels deeply, securely, and affectionately attached seems to be basic to the development of social competence. Not surprisingly, there is ample reason to believe that parents' own reactions with their friends provide the young child with models and cues about the skills involved. Parents' behavior indicates to their children the value the parents place on friendships. It also lets children know that their parents are concerned with the feelings of others. Parents also play a role when they help their children interpret their friends' feelings, and when they teach them to resist jumping to premature conclusions interpreting their friends' behavior.
Parents can also provide a model that shows children how to respect someone with whom they disagree.
Respecting someone we agree with is easy by contrast. Opportunities for spontaneous, unstructured play among young children under the supervision of a knowledgeable adult are essential. Many children who have difficulty making friends become excluded from social activities, and thus have less experience and fewer opportunities to develop, learn, practice, and refine the skills they lack. It takes seven or eight years to develop and refine the wide range of skills required for friendship making and keeping. Thus it is a good idea to start early in providing a child with lots of warmth and support, and with frequent opportunities to make and keep friends.