“You didn’t take my side!” If you have a school-aged child, you may have heard some version of this before. A friend disagreed with them. Someone else was being teased, and their friend did not defend them. Two children had an argument, and one expected their friend to immediately agree with them. To adults, this can sometimes seem like an overreaction. After all, being a friend does not necessarily mean agreeing with everything someone says or does. But for children, friendship is something...

Why being considerate matters—and why children may not respond to kindness in the same way at every age. We often encourage children to be kind. “Think about how they feel.” “Take turns.” “Be considerate.” “Include everyone.” These are important lessons. Being aware of other people’s needs is one of the ways children learn to build positive relationships and participate in groups. But there is an interesting question behind all of this: Do children actually notice when another child...

What a child pays attention to may tell us something about how they are feeling — and, importantly, about how depression can develop over time. We often think of depression in children in terms of what we can see: a child who seems sad, withdrawn, irritable, tired, or less interested in the things they usually enjoy. But researchers are increasingly interested in something much more subtle: what children notice, and what they find difficult to look away from A recent study from Binghamton...