Maintaining a Friendship

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Maintaining a Friendship

• Keeping a positive relationship going once it has
  started

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Skill Steps

• Recognize the friendships you are in that are
  positive and worth keeping
• Use positive strategies to maintain those
  friendships

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What happens when you maintain a friendship

• You have someone to turn to when you have a
  problem
• You have someone to do things with
• You know that someone cares about you
• You may feel proud you encourage and support your
  friend

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Some Friends Arent Worth Keeping

• Unfortunately there are people who may pretend to
  be your friend but they are really just using
  you.
• Using means to take advantage of your kindness.
• For example a girl may be nice to you at lunch
  because you loan her money everyday but she wont
  talk to you in the hall. She is using you.

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Some Friends Arent Worth Keeping

• There are also others who act like your friend
  but try to pressure you into doing things you are
  not comfortable doing.
• Example a pretend friend says, If youre
  really my friend, you will steal this CD for me

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10 Ways to keep a friendship going

• Communicate
• Communicating when you go to the same school or
  live in the same neighborhood is easy
• When a friend moves away setting aside time to
  communicate becomes important to maintain the
  friendship

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10 Ways to keep a friendship going

• 2. Be Honest
• Being honest builds trust in relationships. When
  friends trust each other the friendship will be
  stronger
• If your friend finds out youre not being honest
  then he/she will lose trust in you.

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10 Ways to keep a friendship going

• 3. Be Loyal
• Be the persons friend when you are together and
  when you are apart.
• If your friend learns that you say bad things
  behind his/her back, it may end the friendship

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10 Ways to keep a friendship going

• 4. Keep secrets UNLESS someone is in danger
• If your friend asks you to keep a secret then
  keep it.
• However if the secret is about abuse, drugs or
  hurting themselves then you need to tell an adult!

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10 Ways to keep a friendship going

• 5. Be Supportive
• Try to encourage your friend whenever possible.
  You can show support with the things you say and
  by things that you do.
• (give compliments, offer to help, give a birthday
  card, be a good listener)

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10 Ways to keep a friendship going

• 6. Be Fun and Optimistic
• Although it is important to be able to talk to
  your friend when you are sad, you should try to
  be fun and upbeat as much as possible.
• Try to avoid being negative all the time.

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10 Ways to keep a friendship going

• 7. Remember that neither one of you is perfect
• Apologize to your friend when you make mistakes
  and forgive your friends mistakes.
• Nobody is perfect we all mess up at times.
• If you are looking for a friend that will never
  upset you, you wont find one.

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10 Ways to keep a friendship going

• 8. Expect that your friend will sometimes
  disagree with you.
• No two people are exactly alike.
• You can disagree about some things and still be
  friends.
• When a friend has a different opinion than you
  do, you can see a topic from a new perspective.

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10 Ways to keep a friendship going

• 9. Remind your friend every once in a while how
  important the friendship is to you.
• Now and again, say Im really glad youre my
  friend
• You can tell him/her in a note if you feel more
  comfortable
• We all need to be reminded that our friendship is
  important, and we are not being taken for granted.

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10 Ways to keep a friendship going

• 10. Share your friend- dont be jealous when
  he/she does things with others
• Try not to be possessive, expecting your friend
  to only be friends with you.
• When others are around dont make your friend
  feel he/she has to pay attention only to you.
• Your friend may do things with other people but
  also still be your friend

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Deciding if a Friendship is Worth Keeping

• Think of the friendships that you have now. Are
  they supportive of you?
• After you have read the 10 ways to maintain a
  friendship try these strategies with people you
  consider your true friends

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Maintaining a Friendship Review

• Looks Like
• Using appropriate body language
• Doing things together
• Being available when your friend needs support

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Maintaining a Friendship Review

• Sounds Like
• Saying things that are supportive
• Using a sincere tone of voice
• Letting your friend know you appreciate the
  friendship

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• Friendship is the only cement that will ever
  hold the world together.
• Woodrow Wilson