No Best Friends Allowed

Continuing the parenting theme of recent days, I've read a few stories like this one denouncing the tendency of some child educators to believe that children should not have best friends, believing that doing so would only cause future pain. As stated in a NYTimes article:

[having a best friend] signals potential trouble for school officials intent on discouraging anything that hints of exclusivity, in part because of concerns about cliques and bullying. […]
“I don’t think it’s particularly healthy for a child to rely on one friend,” said Jay Jacobs, the camp’s director. “If something goes awry, it can be devastating. It also limits a child’s ability to explore other options in the world.”

Yikes. Let me join the party! This attitude is exactly what the excellent book "The Self Esteem Trap" taught me - life is all about dealing with failure and pain, and protecting children from it will only serve to make them more vulnerable to depression and self-esteem issues down the road. This attitude - in educators, no less! - smacks of "helicopter parenting," where parents "helicopter" in to save their kids whenever things are going wrong (problems with other kids, grades, exams, etc.) Humans learn from mistakes, and it's better to let kids make their mistakes when they're kids and able to more easily learn, adapt, and move on then when their adults and mistakes have more severe consequences.