Kids Shouldn't Have Best Friends, Says U.K. Educator

Feelings might be hurt

A head teacher of a leading primary school has said young children should not have best friends because it could leave others feeling ostracised and hurt. But are people programmed to have best friends?

Besties, BFFs—whatever you want to call them, best friends make the world go round for many people.

Plenty of children naturally seek out a special friend and the childhood pal is a constant motif in children's literature—Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn or The Wind in the Willows' Ratty and Mole.

So it may come as a surprise to many that parents of children at a private day school in south-west London have been told it's not good for their offspring to have best friends.