Friendship, Bec Sparrow says, is a bumper bar on your life. It doesn't stop the hard things from happening – it cushions the impact when they do.

Bec is one of Australia's most trusted voices on teen and tween life - author of seven books, co-host of ABC's Parental as Anything with Maggie Dent, co-founder of Birds of a Feather (Australia's largest online book club for women), and a woman who has spent more than twenty years studying the science and art of friendship. She is also, by her own admission, a deeply introverted person who has had to consciously learn every single skill she teaches.

We explore:

• The sense of calling she has carried since her teenage years, and what it actually feels like to be doing the work you're here to do
• The pilot light – what Bec says to every parent who is  ...