5 Reasons to Focus on Friendship!
Friendships are essential to everyone’s well-being, and for young people, developing healthy relationship skills helps them feel supported, connected and valued. Finding common ground through shared experiences builds strong connections, while respecting differences fosters appreciation for diversity and the unique qualities that each person brings. This school year, embracing the theme ‘Friendship – celebrate similarities and differences’ offers meaningful opportunities to build these skills in developmentally rich and engaging ways. Here are five reasons to focus on friendship:
1. Strong connections to the Physical Education and Wellness (PEW) curriculum
‘Healthy relationships’ is an organizing idea in the updated PEW elementary curriculum. Exploring common ground and appreciating differences helps students practise communication, collaboration, empathy and respect – all of which are a strong focus in this section of curricula. Students can apply their learnings about friendship to other relationships they have with the people and animals in their lives.
2. Reinforces Social-Emotional Learning
Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) is the process of acquiring and applying knowledge, skills and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and make responsible and caring decisions. The CASEL 5 identifies five broad and interrelated areas of competence that combine to form the basis of friendships. Focusing on these five competencies helps students take a mindful and active approach to foster healthy relationships.
3. Connects to the human-animal bond
The mutually beneficial relationship we have with animals, known as the human-animal bond, helps nurture empathy, responsibility and care. Animals are intrinsically interesting to young people and capture their imagination and emotions. Exploring how relationships with animals are built on respect and kindness helps students understand the foundations of healthy relationships and how this foundation can extend to relationships with their peers.
4. Builds a strong sense of belonging
When students feel seen and valued, they can be more likely to participate, take risks and support others. Taking the time to find and celebrate similarities creates connections between peers that might otherwise be overlooked. Honouring differences fosters appreciation for diversity and the unique strengths each student brings to the classroom, which can then be celebrated.
5. Encourages a caring classroom culture
A focus on friendship empowers students to take an active role in creating a caring and supportive classroom community. When students listen, share, compromise and show kindness they contribute to an environment where everyone feels respected and included. This shared responsibility for the well-being of the class helps students understand that their actions matter and that they play an important role in, not only shaping but, maintaining classroom culture.
By embracing this theme, you can help students grow into connected, confident and compassionate learners. Focus on friendship this school year by displaying the poster in your classroom and using the comprehensive teacher guide – full of discussion questions and classroom ready activities.- This will help students practise skills involved in building and maintaining positive relationships and celebrating the similarities and differences that make everyone unique.
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