Are You a Good Friend?
The importance of friendship
by Hannah Taylor
Suitable for Key Stage 2
Aims
To consider the key elements of friendship and encourage us to put them into practice.
Preparation and materials
- None required.
Assembly
- Ask the children, ‘What is a friend?’
Listen to a range of responses. - Ask the children to think about the qualities that they would like a friend of theirs to have.
Listen to a range of responses. - Remind them that a friend is someone who we care about and who cares about us; it is someone who we get on well with, laugh with and trust.
- We can make friends anywhere, any time - whether we are four years old or 94 years old. If we ask our parents and teachers, they will have some stories about how they first met their closest friends.
- Ask the children, ‘Why is friendship important?’
Listen to a range of responses. - Remind the children that most of us like to have company some of the time. It is good to have someone to laugh with and share our lives with. We enjoy talking with friends, playing games together, joining in the same hobbies and so on.
- Let’s try this mini-quiz, which will help us to think about friendship.
Think about one of your friends and then answer these questions.
- Do you consider them to be a good friend?
- Do they make you feel good about yourself?
- Do you share values, beliefs or interests?
- Do you trust them and enjoy being in their company?
- Would they help you if you needed them?
If you answered yes for most of these questions, the person in question sounds like a good friend. - As well as having good friends, it’s also important to be a good friend. Here are some pointers to help us to become good friends.
- Use words to make your friends feel good. Good friends say nice things to each other and make each other feel good. Do we need to remind our friends that they are amazing?
- Love the differences. Our friends will not have all the same interests or hobbies as we do. However, if our friends have different interests, we can still encourage and support each other. Being different is a gift!
- Be a good listener. We must make sure that we listen to our friends rather than interrupting them. That might mean turning off our devices every now and then . . .
- Support them. When our friends feel down or troubled, the best thing that we can do is try to help them feel better. Laughter can be the best medicine.
- Be a trustworthy friend. Good friends are not judgmental, and they keep private information to themselves - no matter how tempting it may be to share it!
- Be respectful. Perhaps we have said something that has upset our friends or maybe they have done something that has upset us. Close friends can talk about difficulties, forgive and still be great friends.
- Spend time together. By giving our time to our friends, we show them that we want them to be a part of our lives. Imagine a friend walking off while we were talking to them. We would think that was really rude! - Now let’s explore some things that are bad for friendships.
- Never put people down. Criticizing our friends can cause upset and lower their self-esteem, which can lead to a lack of confidence.
- Don’t talk behind their back. This can cause distrust in our friendships and may make people feel like they can’t confide in us any more.
- Don’t compare successes. We all have our skills; it’s important to be proud of our friends when they’re successful, rather than being resentful and jealous.
- Don’t make it all about you. Good friends must make the time to listen to each other.
- Don’t try to change them. We should focus on the good attributes that our friends have and learn to accept our differences. It’s okay to be like chalk and cheese!
Time for reflection
Let’s take the time to think about what we can do to improve our friendships in school.
Pause to allow time for thought.
Maybe we could be more accepting of others, more encouraging to others, more welcoming into our friendship groups or more friendly during school clubs and activities.
Let’s also think about what we can work on to be a better friend to others.
Pause to allow time for thought.
Encourage the children to look out for ways in which they can be a better friend today.
Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for the people I call friends.
Thank you for the friends I have now and will have in the future.
Please help me always to be a good friend to others.
Amen.
Song/music
‘You’ve got a friend in me’ from the film Toy Story, covered by Chaz Mazzota, available at: https://youtu.be/mFOaA_OXS68 (2.44 minutes long)
