Content area
Full text
When asked what makes a good friend, 8-year-old William gave an insightful answer: "[A friend] doesn't like you for what you have, but they like you for who you are." It's clear that even young children understand friendships should be built upon acceptance and appreciation for others.
Initially, though, both children and adults develop friends who share common interests, and those relationships are often among friends from the same cultural and geographical background. Today, our world is interconnected through technology, ease of travel, and immigration, so there is more of a need than ever before to prepare children for cross-cultural, global friendships.
Cross-cultural friendships are a way to inspire peace and a way for children to better understand different points of view. Friendships vary in complexity, and with any friendship there are times of tribulation and conflict; however, children can learn how to resolve conflict in their own lives when they read examples of friendship within literature and how characters solve disagreements. Here are some benefits of sharing cross-cultural friendship in children's literature, along with award-winning children's books.
Why is this needed?
In our global and multiracial society, children's friendships are often linked to social and emotional competence, and researchers find that cross-cultural friendships are connected to prejudice reduction and peacemaking efforts. Having one single friend can indeed reduce the negative impact of peer rejection and loneliness, and when there is conflict among peers, children are more resilient in dealing with such a situation when they have had success in making friends.
Children who experience cross-cultural friendships, in particular, often have higher levels of social competence and self-esteem than their peers who do not have such friendships. Research also indicates that children's friendships enhance their cognitive development in school, and with these developed friendships, children experience support within the classroom and have greater amounts of conversation among their friends. With this ease of discussion in the classroom, children are able to use problem-solving skills among their friends and, as...