When my kids were younger I cringed a little at the term “best friend”. Anytime I’d catch one of my kids and a friend call each other “besties” it just didn’t sit well with me. I’ve always found the term to be a bit exclusive. As most superlatives are.
Though it never evolved into a formal sit-down discussion, my girls knew how I felt on the subject. “It’s just a good idea to surround yourself with lots of great people without unintentionally excluding others by claiming a “bestie” for oneself.”
“It’s better to not put all your eggs in one basket and instead have several good friends that you can count on equally.”
“You might want to include so-and-so in this particular gathering/outing. Otherwise she might feel left out.”
These are the types of things I’d say that likely bred an aversion to “best friends” in my children. Mostly to help them be a little more other-centered and inclusive-also to ensure that they don’t get too complacent in their relationships.
Fast forward to 2020.
After a couple of months of “you can see no one outside your family”, we graduated to “pick a small group of friends and limit yourself to hanging out only with those few this summer.” Huge paradigm shift. But necessary in a pandemic.
So while I am still a huge advocate for casting one’s net wide when it comes to friendships under normal circumstances, it appears that during the pandemic we will be a little bit more choosy about with whom we hang out. “Summer of the best friend”, I’m calling it.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, I suppose.