How monkeys taught me to appreciate teen sleepovers

One of the chief jobs of parenting is to encourage kids to make and maintain strong friendships. It is one of the skills they will need most in life

Can we have a sleepover?” Barring anything involving fire, blood or hospitals, these five words are the ones I dread most as a parent. Sleepovers tend to involve too much noise and junk food and too little sleep.

And yet, after spending the last few years researching and writing a book about the science of friendship, I am looking with fresh eyes at sleepovers, video games and many of the other ways children and teenagers like to spend their time together. I’ve realised that the critical thing is exactly that: that they spend time together. One of our chief jobs