Q: My son makes friends easily but he often gets disrespected by his friends. Recently, I happened to see a text on his phone, from a friend saying, “We miss you… kind of.” Was that comment mean or was his friend just being funny? How should my son respond?

One time, I was waiting for one of my kids at our local YMCA, when I saw two middle school boys approach. The boys were obviously close friends. They were laughing and smiling and poking each other. When they came to the entrance, one boy gestured grandly toward the door and said to the other, “Ladies first!” His friend responded with an equally grand gesture toward the door and said, “After you!” They both laughed, then the two of them jostled through the door together.

This kind of friendly teasing, which the boys I saw seemed to enjoy, can be baffling to those of us who would never dream of insulting a friend. For very sensitive kids, being the target of teasing, even–or especially–from a friend, can be hard to take.

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