If your daughter has no brothers or close male cousins, she needs some boys as friends. Even if she has many male relatives, she can still benefit from having boys in her life who she is not interested in romantically. There are so many things she can learn from them — from the ways boys are different from girls to the way some of them can clam up rather than discuss their emotions to having a different outlook than girls.

Boy Buds

In high school, some girls manage to find great “boy buds” not only as their study buddies, but also for the years to come, as male confidants. To them, their male friends are like close brothers, only a family or a house removed. Male friends can often tell your daughter the truth better than her girlfriends and her boyfriend would, because there are no strings attached. Besides, they may get your girl into more outdoorsy activities and help build her confidence. Welcome your daughter's boy friends, as well as her boyfriends.