Friendships: Ours and Theirs
PARENTreads Issue No. 11: Essays on children’s friendships, adult friendships, and the relationships that shape family life
Friendship is one of the most important—and often overlooked—parts of family life. We see it in our children as they find their place with others, and we feel it in our own lives as we try to stay connected amid the demands of parenting. This edition of PARENTreads gathers essays that explore how friendships form, change, strain, and deepen over time—and what they ask of us along the way.
Voodad writes Household Mojo, a Substack offering management consulting for parents and couples using business and design principles to enhance partnerships and household processes. It’s science, but it feels like magic.
The Power of Friendship
Invest in people. Treat relationships like an investment portfolio because the people closest to you support you in bad times and celebrate you in good times. A diversified network carries families through hardship and amplifies joy.
» Read here
How Not to Dress Like a Middle-Aged Woman Desperately Clinging to Her Lost Youth by Irena Smith | The Curmudgeon’s Guide to College Admissions
Raising kids is not for the faint of heart. Everyone needs at least one friend who gets it, and maybe a perfect pair of overalls.
» Read here
When Your Life Changes and Your Friends’ Lives Don’t by Lindsey | Momplex
What happens when you become a mother and your friendships don’t fit the same way anymore? This piece looks at guilt, boundaries, change, and finding a new rhythm.
» Read here
Why It’s Normal for Your Kid’s Friendships to Change by Cathy Cassani Adams, LCSW | Zen Parenting
Friendship isn’t as simple as being kind and including everyone. This piece explores what kids are really learning through conflict, exclusion, social pressure, and the long work of belonging.
» Read here
The Friendship ‘Meat Grinder’: And The Mindset That Protects Your Teen’s Mental Health (podcast) by Rachel Richards | Teenagers Untangled and Megan Saxelby | Wild Feelings
Early adolescence can be brutal on friendships, and this piece explores why kids’ social pain needs to be taken seriously. It also offers research-backed insight into what helps teens cope and heal.
» Listen here
My Social Bandwidth in Motherhood by Lou | Parenting Connected
This essay explores my personal shifts in friendship during the early stages of motherhood for a third time.
» Read here
When Your Child... Sticks With a Mean Friend by Eileen Kennedy-Moore, PhD | Dr. Friendtastic for Parents
Why do kids stick with mean friends? This piece explores mixed signals, social pressure, and what parents can do to help kids reflect, build better options, and learn with support.
» Read here
On the Awkwardness of Reconnecting With Old Friendships by Archana Menon | String of Saturdays
On reconnecting with old friendships when time, distance, and adulthood stretch old bonds thin.
» Read here
50 Rules of Modern Friendship Etiquette by Anna Goldfarb | Friendship Explained
Friendship doesn’t run on good intentions alone. This piece offers practical, modern rules for showing up, communicating clearly, making time, handling conflict, and building stronger adult friendships.
» Read here
The Male Loneliness Epidemic by The Tired Dad | Reflections in Modern Parenting
What happens when friendship stops feeling essential? This piece explores male loneliness, sober adulthood, and the difference between living quietly and going silent.
» Read here
The Fatherhood Friendship Gap by Dylan Macinerney | The Fatherhood Framework
For many dads, friendship doesn’t end all at once—it fades under the weight of work, marriage, and kids. This piece explores why and how to push back against the drift.
» Read here
Rebuilding the Village Was Never Going to Be Easy by Ryan Rose Weaver (she/hers) | In Tending
In the 1960s, Bruce Tuckman laid out four stages of building community: forming, storming, norming, and performing. Anticipating and moving through storming is tough, but it can’t be skipped.
» Read here
Circle of Friends... Building Community and Inclusion by Nancy E. Holroyd, RN | Hands On Nursing in a Germ Factory
Finding ways to support friendship building for children with disabilities may require some creative measures. We found it in developing a “Lunch Bunch” using a Circle of Friends format.
» Read here
The Truth About Friendship and Autistic Kids by Kate Lynch | Atypical Kids, Mindful Parents
My son had to be explicitly taught friendship skills, but now he has a few true friends.
» Read here
How Children Make Friends by Dr. Alistair Bryce-Clegg | The PLAYlist
Friendship in early childhood is about far more than getting along. This piece explores how kids learn connection through play, why attachment and brain development matter, and how adults can support friendship without forcing it.
» Read here
Beyond the Posts: Books for Parents
This bonus edition of PARENTreads gathers books written by members of this writing community—each offering its own perspective on parenting, family life, and the questions that shape how we show up for the people we love. Whether reflective, practical, or deeply personal, these books invite you to explore ideas beyond the newsletter and discover the voices behind them.
What Parenting Asks Us To Carry
Much of parenting happens in the space between what we give and what we carry. This edition of PARENTreads gathers essays that examine the weight of responsibility, the persistence of guilt, and the ongoing negotiation between self-sacrifice and self-preservation. The essays that follow move through the many ways parents experience, question, and reshape what parenting asks us to hold.
Explore all PARENTreads issues HERE.