“best friend.” Well, I told her I didn’t really like the idea because it sounds so exclusive to those who do not bear that title. The best friend title also seems to claim owner ship of the other person and may even proclaim, ”She is my friend, you can’t have her.” In our home we have always said that our siblings are our best friends, because all other friends will come and go, but siblings will be there for us forever.
When I dove a little deeper into my daughter’s question, she claimed that several people had asked her who her best friend was. I told her that even some of my adult friends call each other best friends. Then she surprised me and said, “You even asked me the other day.” How confusing to a girl to have her mom say she doesn’t really care for the idea of best friends outside of the family, but then have that same mother ask who she felt was her best friend?
I remember the conversation and that I was digging for a reason,
but I should have used different terms. I could have asked, “Who do you feel closest to outside of our family?” Or “Who is easy for you to relate to outside of our family?”
This conversation was a good reminder for me to be consistent in
my presentations to our children.