Every kid needs a friend to run and romp with on the playground during recess.

But not every child has the confidence or social skills to get out there and connect with his or her peers.

That’s where the Buddy Bench comes in.

It’s the newest feature at Leonard Elementary School.

The idea behind it is quite simple.

When sitting on the special bench, students are signaling to others they’re in need of a friend or just someone to play with.

Students who see their peers sitting on the bench are encouraged to invite those kids to join them in whatever playground game or activity they’re engaged in.

“I think it’s a great tool for the entire school,” said Romeo resident Carrie Muir, mother of three Leonard students (Piper, Shay and Charles McFarlin) and a 1996 Oxford High School graduate whose maiden name is Laube.

It was Muir who pitched the idea to the school. She came across the concept on the website “Christian’s Buddy Bench.”

Basically, a student named Christian Bucks got the idea from a school overseas and convinced his school, Roundtown Elementary in York, Pennsylvania, to install one in 2013.

That garnered some national media attention and the Buddy Bench movement was born, the goal being to “eliminate loneliness and foster friendship on the playground.”

“I thought it was kind of a neat idea,” Muir said.

The concept really resonated with Muir because her oldest son, Jack McFarlin, now a sixth-grader at Oxford Middle School, had some difficulties socially when he came to Leonard in the third grade.

“He didn’t know how to join in,” she said. “It’s not always easy”

Muir explained her son was by no means “an outcast.”

He had friends, but he was “painfully shy” and that prevented him from making the first move when it came to approaching others in social situations.

Jack was constantly waiting to be invited, but Muir said, “Kids that age, they don’t look up, they don’t know the signs to look for.”

Fortunately, things improved for Jack in middle school. “He’s doing great now,” Muir said.

But Muir wants to help all the other Jacks at Leonard Elementary who want to join in, but don’t know how to do it or are too afraid or nervous to ask. So, she pitched the Buddy Bench idea and the school was receptive.

“I think it’s a great tool for kids who can’t find the words yet because they’re still socially developing,” said Muir, who

attended Leonard for her K-5 years.

“If you see someone on a Buddy Bench, you know that kid needs somebody. It’s their way of saying something when they don’t have the words for it – ‘Hey, I need a friend. Hey, I’m having a bad day.’”

“I wish Jack had something like that (when he attended Leonard). I wish I would have come across this sooner,” she added.

Muir said it also teaches the kids not on the bench to always be on the lookout for someone who needs a friend and be willing to reach out to them.

“Be a bench-watcher,” she said.

Leonard Principal Paul McDevitt agreed.

“It becomes the kids’ responsibility to actually look toward the bench and if there’s somebody sitting on it, they have to take action and invite them to play,” he said. “We really have to educate our kids to make sure they’re aware and open, and (understand) that it’s a good thing to make people feel good . . . A lot of times kids walk away feeling bad about something, about not being included, and the other kids don’t even realize they did anything (to cause it).”

Muir noted the school district’s been fantastic about teaching students to not harass each other. The Buddy Bench is just taking things one step further in developing their social skills and cultivating empathy.

“These kids, they got it,” she said. “They know not to be a bully, but how do you be a friend?”

Leonard’s Buddy Bench was provided by Romeo Monument Station, which is owned by Muir and her husband, Richard.

The school’s PTO contributed $175 toward the bench while Romeo Monument Station covered the rest of the cost, which included materials, labor and installation. Such a bench would normally retail for about $1,100, Muir said.

It’s made of granite and has blue-and-gold lettering carved into it that reads “Leonard Buddy Bench” with two Wildcat paw prints on the seat.

“I think it came out nicely,” said Richard Muir. “I remember when I was in school, it seems like there was always somebody that felt left out. I think this is great way to try to keep everybody feeling included.”

Richard hopes the bench works so well that after a while, no student feels lonely or excluded and the school “won’t need it” anymore.

To any schools out there interested in joining the Buddy Bench movement, Muir said the Romeo Monument Station is “more than willing to work with them.”

“I think this is a great thing for our school and I think it would be a great thing for other schools as well,” she said.