{"id":13517,"date":"2018-01-09T13:09:00","date_gmt":"2018-01-09T21:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.philosophyforchildren.org\/friendship\/"},"modified":"2018-01-09T13:09:00","modified_gmt":"2018-01-09T21:09:00","slug":"friendship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/plato-philosophy.org\/friendship\/","title":{"rendered":"Friendship"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/span><\/span>“Books! And cleverness! There are more important things – friendship and bravery . . .\u201d<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Hermione, age 11<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
From Harry Potter and the Sorcerer\u2019s Stone <\/i>by J.K. Rowling<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Learning to make friends and figuring out what friendship involves is a significant part of the work of children, and once they enter school they spend more and more of their waking experience with their friends, in a way most adults no longer do. Frequently children mention having friends as essential to happiness. From school age through young adulthood, young people are often focused on making and keeping friends, and their friendships often influence their lives in deep and complex ways. As a result, many children spend time thinking about what makes someone a good friend and the importance of having friends.<\/span>

<\/span>A nice activity for stimulating reflection and discussion about friendship appears in the textbook I co-authored, Philosophy in Education: Questioning and Dialogue in Schools<\/a>. <\/i>The following description is adapted from the activity, which was created by Kelsey Satchel Kaul and Heather Van Wallendael when they were undergraduate students at the University of <\/span>North Carolina at Chapel Hill. <\/span>

<\/span>Activity<\/span><\/strong>

<\/span>Begin by giving each student one index card and asking the students to draw, without using representations of people (including stick figures, faces, and the like), a creative representation of a good friendship. Have the students then discuss their drawings in small groups, with students explaining why their drawings represent good friendships.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Bring the students back <\/span>together and ask them to consider the following question as a large group: \u201cWhat makes a friendship a <\/span>good<\/em> friendship?\u201d <\/span>Have the students contribute answers to this question based on their drawings, and then ask them if they would add <\/span>anything else to the list.<\/span><\/div>\n
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After this general list is established, move to more specific questions on the nature of a good friendship:<\/span><\/div>\n
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