This week’s Q&A post is about friendships between kids of different genders, their potential benefits, and the peer pressure that can pull them apart.

Tomorrow is the launch of my mini-podcast, Kids Ask Dr. Friendtastic! It’s been a lot of work to get everything set up, but also a lot of fun. I get such a kick out of little voices asking questions about my favorite topic! I hope you and your kids enoy it.

Monday is the webinar for kids about friendship. Scroll down to learn more about it.

Next month we’ll get back to webinars for adults.

Warm wishes,

Q: My son is eight, and his best friend is a girl. We’re neighbors with her family, so the kids see each other often. They get along great and have so much fun playing together, but lately, my son is complaining that the kids at school are teasing him about having a “girlfriend.” There’s nothing romantic about their friendship, but he’s embarrassed and has even started ignoring his friend at school to try to avoid being teased. What can I do to help protect their friendship?

You can see it on any playground: from about age four through the elementary school years, boys play mostly with boys, and girls play mostly with girls. This happens across cultures. around the world.

Gender segregation is often policed by children, who are quick to point out what is a “girl thing” or a “boy thing.” In some groups, there’s not only segregation but outright rivalry and dislike between boys and girls.

On the other hand, a recent study by Halim and colleagues, involving a diverse group of 2nd and 4th graders, found that two-thirds of the kids had other-gender friends. Over the course of a year, gaining more other-gender friendships led kids to more positive attitudes and feelings toward the other gender. Having more positive attitudes was also linked to having more other-gender friends.

This fits with a mountain of other research showing that positive interactions with someone from another group decrease prejudice. Having other-gender friends allows children to see them as regular people rather than mysterious, different, and even frightening "others." Other-gender friendships can be a good foundation for healthy adult relationships, romantic or otherwise.

In your son’s case, it would be a shame if peer pressure hurt his happy friendship with the neighbor girl. There’s no guarantee this friendship will last forever, but here are some ways you could support it: