"....and that contact with adults, older kids, younger kids, relatives, family, etc. simply doesn't count....it must be with same age peers to be valid."
That's ironic, isn't it? It's actually *MORE* healthy for children to be in varied social environments than in a group of 1 adult and 22 others who happen to be born within 12 months of eachother.
As parents of schoolage children, we are well aware of the 'bad influences' that other children can sometimes be. Just as communicable diseases can spead via the classroom, so can bad behavior.
I recall, back when I took child psychology a number of years ago, my prof told us that studies were suggesting that children actually learned better when in groups of other children of mixed ages, rather like in either a normal family setting or the old one room school house type setting. I can't remember any other details of the study, so take it for what it's worth.
susie