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What is friendship in simple words?

friendship, a state of enduring affection, esteem, intimacy, and trust between two people. In all cultures, friendships are important relationships throughout a person's life span.

britannica.com - Friendship - Encyclopedia Britannica

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Do you really know who the “One” is? Your true Soulmate?

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Such features differentiate friendship from several related phenomena. The fact that friendships are dyadic relationships distinguishes them from cliques or peer groups. (Of course, many members of cliques are also friends with other members.) Similarly, having friendships is different from being popular or having a high social status . Individuals who are not popular certainly may have close friendships, and a popular person may not have a real friendship. The affective bond that is a component of friendship distinguishes friendship from acquaintanceship. 5. It is almost always characterized by companionship and shared activities. In fact, one of the primary goals and motivations of friendship is companionship. In addition, adolescent and adult friendships often perform other functions, such as serving as sources of emotional support and providing opportunities for self-disclosure and intimacy. 4. It is typically egalitarian in nature. Unlike parent-child relationships, for instance, each individual in a friendship has about the same amount of power or authority in the relationship. 3. It is not obligatory; two individuals choose to form a friendship with each other. In Western societies, friendships are one of the least prescribed close relationships, with no formal duties or legal obligations to one another.

Friendship across the life span

Friendships play an important role in healthy human development and adjustment across the life span. Friendships exist in practically every stage of development, although the form they take varies considerably with age. Early childhood Although there is no clear consensus regarding at what age children first begin to form friendships, the foundations of such friendships begin to emerge quite early. Toddlers behave in a regular, predictable manner in their interactions with familiar peers earlier than they do with unfamiliar peers. Within the first two years of life, children show stable preferences for certain peers over others; further, with these preferred playmates, the interaction patterns they follow differ from those with other familiar peers. By the time children reach preschool age, the existence of true friendships is even more evident. Children themselves tend at first to define friendships in terms of interactions, such as “we play together.” Companionship is generally viewed as the primary function of friendship among toddlers and preschoolers. Preschool friends have more social contact with each other, talk more with each other, and demonstrate more equality and less dominance in their interactions with each other than they do in their interactions with nonfriends. Differences between friends and nonfriends are particularly evident in social pretend play. By preschool, children also begin to incorporate more emotional and affective functions into their friendships. Preschool friends express more positive affect toward each other and score higher on measures of mutual liking, closeness, and loyalty than nonfriends do. Moreover, even young children frequently become sad or lonely when a friend moves away. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Subscribe Now Friendships are not always harmonious, however, and young children may engage in conflict with their friends. In fact, in early childhood, friends tend to engage in more conflict than nonfriends. Yet, friends also expend more effort to resolve conflict and are more successful at such resolution than are nonfriends. Conflict resolution is frequently seen as one of the important social skills that young children develop within their earliest friendships. Additionally, friendships are not always mutual among young children. Although the definition of friendship typically requires reciprocity, unilateral friendships, in which only one child of a pair nominates the other as a friend, are quite common in early childhood. In fact, about half of nominated preschool friendships are unilateral.

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How do I tell my BFF that I like him?

Be open and honest about your feelings by telling them that you've developed feelings for them, and you thought it was important that they knew. You might say something like, “It's not easy for me to tell you this, but I've had a crush on you for awhile now.”

wikihow.com - 3 Ways to Tell Your Best Friend You ""Like Like"" Them - wikiHow

This article was co-authored by JT Tran . JT Tran is a Dating Coach and a Dating Advice Columnist for LA Weekly and Baller Magazine. JT also runs the ABCs of Attraction, a dating boot camp where he specializes in coaching Asian men and women on how to navigate the cultural and social sensitivities associated with Asian dating culture. With over ten years of dating coaching experience, JT has presented dating and relationship advice as it relates to cultural issues at Harvard University, Yale University, and the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. His work has been featured in AsianWeek, New York, NU Asian Magazine, the Huffington Post, Channel News Asia, and Voice of America News TV. This article has been viewed 298,199 times.

Article Summary

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If you’ve developed a crush on your best friend and you suspect they feel the same way, you might be ready to tell them how you feel. Choose a time to talk to them about your feelings when you’ll both be relaxed and have plenty of time for an uninterrupted chat. Ask to meet with them in person if possible. Go someplace private before you open up to them so they won’t feel put on the spot. Wait for a quiet moment in the conversation and say something like, “There’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you. I’ve had a crush on you for a while now.” Let them know that their friendship is important to you and that you aren’t putting pressure on them to return your feelings if they don’t feel the same. Give them some time to respond, and do your best to accept their answer gracefully, whatever it might be. For tips about how to accept your friend’s reaction, keep reading!