Do you have cousins? I don’t have any friends from my childhood, but I have every cousin who is still alive still in my life more or less. Including cousins who are 15-40 years older than me. It’s not the same thing as “my friends have kids near the same age”. I wouldn’t let my kids hang out with my friend’s kids if they were 15 years older than my kids…
That’s your choice, I guess. I remember cousins who babysat me, took me to the zoo a hundred times, introduced me to classic musicals, because they were family and trusted and not a friend’s kid… It’s just different is all.