Schools ban children making best friends

Teachers are banning schoolkids from having ‘best pals’ — so they don’t get upset by fall-outs

Harry Hawkins
Sun
March 20, 2012

… Educational psychologist Gaynor Sbuttoni said the policy has been used at schools in Kingston, South West London, and Surrey.

She added: “I have noticed that teachers tell children they shouldn’t have a best friend and that everyone should play together.

“They are doing it because they want to save the child the pain of splitting up from their best friend. But it is natural for some children to want a best friend. If they break up, they have to feel the pain because they’re learning to deal with it.”

Russell Hobby, of the National Association of Head Teachers, confirmed some schools were adopting best-friend bans.

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Permalink Reply by Nikki on March 21, 2012 at 1:24pm

They must be running out of things to ban in the UK!

I've noticed that teachers always split up best friends in class and don't allow them to sit next to each other, etc. - nothing new here. If the teachers get too obnoxious about, the parents must speak up and complain. Most parents set up play dates in the afternoon/weekends for kids to spend time with their best friends because they know they don't get to spend much time together in school.

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Permalink Reply by Ragnarok on March 22, 2012 at 5:19am

Sounds more like they want all the kids to be nazi jugend lemmings. Everyone needs a best friend its an important part of life unless your aiming for for kid to become John Wayne Gacy. But lets face it its coming more and more under pressure to be an independent individual.

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Permalink Reply by Maria De Wind on March 22, 2012 at 10:49am

Education is meant to prepare students for life... a life under the care of the all pervading nanny State it seems

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Permalink Reply by Less Prone on March 22, 2012 at 10:49am

They want to have all people helpless and alone when the Big Brother calls, it's logical and it's evil. Rulers of this world suck. They want to squeeze all humanity out of people. No caring of the fellow human beings, just greed, competition, meanness, hate, consumerism and all the rotten feelings are allowed.

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Permalink Reply by Maria De Wind on March 22, 2012 at 2:12pm

Right on !

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Permalink Reply by DTOM on March 22, 2012 at 2:57pm

Seconded

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Permalink Reply by Sovereign on March 22, 2012 at 10:54am

Go Youtube: Charlotte Iserbyt "The Dumbing Down of America". Book also. She's the daughter of an 'elite' who has a soul.

She explains all about the Dumbing Down plans for the world in detail.

Sadly I have a friend that is a teacher, but she just isn't interested in waking up. She is not only content, but violently insistent that she and her ex-marine boyfriend remain comatosed. Pathetic!

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Permalink Reply by suzie on March 22, 2012 at 11:04am

kids will always make a best friend no matter what the social engineers do or say or disallow, that is like saying we will ban love.. Love always find a way and love can be painful sometimes.. will we in future ban kids from having that one special boyfriend or girlfriend from "going steady or hookin up as they say to save them from the pain of it all! rediculous!

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Permalink Reply by Maria De Wind on March 22, 2012 at 2:32pm

Maybe they are just preparing them for Polyamory ... and All it entails !

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Permalink Reply by Charles Magus on March 22, 2012 at 12:18pm

Assholes run National Assciation of Head Teachers! Confirmed! Stop sending your kids to these schools!

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Permalink Reply by Vincent L. Guarisco on March 22, 2012 at 1:30pm

It is my opinion that the qualities of having a best friend, outweigh not having one. In doing so, we experience a connection (a bond) and the lessons that go with it --- mutual respect, caring, loyalty, trust, and supportiveness, to start. Those ingredients are key to becoming a BEST friend. Conversely, trust and intimacy should develop slowly and there is usually some degree of give and take. Oftentimes, two friends begin to feel so in sync that they can comfortably share their innermost feelings and thoughts. I think the consequences of having a best friend outweigh the latter, otherwise, we may remain superficial and detached from one another and gradually . . . over time, we could forget the most important lesson in life: that we are all intertwined in this tapestry we call life.