Friendships with boys...

Q. My daughter is moving to an all-girls school in September but I am worried about how she will retain her friendships with boys or create new ones as she gets older. She doesn’t have a brother and I don’t want her to become awkward around boys as she hits adolescence – Any ideas?

A. On a practical level, both you as parents and your daughter’s school can, and should, create opportunities for natural friendships to occur. If your daughter’s school has a ‘friendly brother school’ then these opportunities are part of the natural pattern of a school: music, drama, Combined Cadet Force, careers events, etc all provide the natural openings for friendships to develop.

At home, you can also help by ensuring that activities are not just girl-friendly, for example badminton or tennis clubs, drama groups and orchestras, and holidays could involve activities with others: adventure holidays, skiing, camping etc!

If we teach our girls to be confident in themselves and self-assured, they should be able to create and maintain healthy relationships with anyone they come into contact with later in life. In my experience, of girls who attended all-girls’ schools or mixed schools, with and without brothers, it is their inherent character which dictates how they will handle relationships – all we can do is give them the experiences which will teach them how to develop.