A Sweet Friendship

A Sweet Friendship

As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.

Ellie, quiet and a little shy, was assigned to sit by Isaiah during lunch. Being the opposite of quiet and shy, he struck up a conversation about her pet cat that first day. The next week he invited her to join the game he and another friend, Landon, were playing, and their friendship slowly grew from there. They now sit at the same lunch table every day, work together in class, and spend recess together on the playground. At the end of the school year, their teacher posted a picture entitled “The Three Musketeers.” It showed Ellie, Isaiah, and Landon sprawled together on the playground grass.

We live in a culture that automatically romanticizes friendship between young boys and girls. It happens innocently enough with cute jokes about a preschooler’s “boyfriend” or “girlfriend” and continues with snarky comments anytime our youngsters mention a classmate of the opposite gender one too many times. And yet we do our children a tremendous disservice when we teach them that relationships with the opposite gender can only be romantic ones, and we do their future spouses no favors either.

Isaiah and Ellie’s friendship is just that: a sweet companionship—no crushing, no romance. As their moms watch friendship flourish between these two classmates, they are careful not to tease them because they don’t want to tarnish the camaraderie they’ve developed. Ellie is one of the smartest kids in class, is compassionate and kind, and is a steady, calm voice in Isaiah’s life. Isaiah is a natural includer whose gregarious personality draws out Ellie’s quieter one. They sharpen each other, drawing upon the strengths of the other as they learn what it means to be good classmates and friends.

— Julie

— Today’s Act of Friendship —

Resolve not to tease or make careless comments about the boy-girl friendships you see the children in your life developing in preschool, elementary school, and even beyond.