i was born a jw, till now I'm still strong in my faith,
happily we are 10 children mom and dad make it 12 now we have 3 elders
and all my family are still saving Jehovah happily.
believe it or not the joy you find in serving Jehovah is something you cant find anywhere ears .
no one is deprive or deprived not to have friends or be like a young boy or girl
if you follow bible principal you will kn that everything writhing there is for our benefit,
such as respect your father and mother it benefit you if you follow that instruction so also
if you respect your creator it benefit you not your God,
though it makes your God Jehovah happy to see you are a good child.
jw or not i never see any man who tell his kids to keep following bad gangs or bad friends.
for me though I'm not the most obedient son ,when i was young i use to ask why is my father so careful about were we go and who we make friends with,
but happily i was wise enough to read my bible personal and see that bad association spoil a useful rabid.my advice for children is keep studding the bible to see why your parent ask you to chose your friends wisely.