ABSTRACT
Most psychological theories and many major authors in Western literature have insisted on the temporary nature of children’s friendships, which cannot really be considered friendships at all because they change so quickly and lack depth. Traditionally, childhood relationships have been
characterized as fleeting alliances precipitated principally by the momentary pleasure of sharing enjoyable activities. In their Oxford Book of Friendship, Enright and Rawlinson (1992) follow the path of friendship as a literary theme. Emphasizing the transient nature of children’s friendships, the earliest citation claims that these fickle relationships ebb and flow according to changes in interest: Aristotle observed in Nichomachean Ethics that:
their affection alters as their taste in pleasure alters and pleasure of that thought changes rapidly . . . Consequently they form attachments quickly and break them off quickly, often changing over the course of twenty-four hours. But young people who are friends, unlike the old, do want to pass their time in one another’s company; that is how their friendship is carried on.
