Yes, literally this.

He's my friend and I have no interest in dropping him. He's been there for me, and I've been there for him, and were peas in a pod.

But we definitely have different maturity levels, and his somewhat more self-centered and immature mentality has been noticed by others in our friend group, and it's causing friction.

I don't want any negative fall-out from this. I don't want my friend to be excluded or dropped. But I also can't tell him he's a man child with man child interests without causing him immense emotional pain.

Like I said, this probably makes me sound like an asshole, but if any of you have had friends in similar circumstances and found a constructive and healthy way for them to mature, I'd love to hear it.

My friend is starting to pick up on some of this social friction and its depressing him. I don't want that, but I'm also not a therapist and I don't really know what to do.