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Surviving the Storms

Learn about handling conflict in friendships and why having a smaller group of friends is completely normal as you grow up.

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Learn about handling conflict in friendships and why having a smaller group of friends is completely normal as you grow up.

Reading Text

There is a common myth that best friends never fight. In reality, a relationship without any disagreements is often a relationship where people are hiding their true feelings. Psychologists note that handling conflict well is actually a sign of a strong, healthy friendship. When you trust someone enough to say, "Hey, that hurt my feelings," and they listen instead of attacking you, your bond grows deeper. True friendship requires accepting that your friend is a different person with their own flaws, and they will occasionally mess up. Surviving a healthy argument proves that your friendship is stronger than a temporary disagreement. You might also notice your friend group shrinking as you get older. This is completely normal! As humans mature, our brains naturally undergo something called "socio-emotional selectivity." This is a fancy way of saying that we stop caring about being popular with everyone and start focusing our energy on a smaller, higher-quality circle of people who truly make us feel safe. So, if you find yourself drifting away from a large crowd to hang out with just one or two close friends, you aren't losing your social skills—you are just growing up.

Activities

Vocabulary

Items:

Label: myth
Answer: v1
Label: disagreements
Answer: v2
Label: conflict
Answer: v3
Label: flaws
Answer: v4
Label: mature
Answer: v5

Definitions:

Text: a widely believed but false idea or story
Text: arguments or situations where people have different opinions
Text: active disagreement or fighting between people or groups
Text: imperfections or weaknesses in someone's character
Text: to become fully grown, developed, or adult

Fill In The Blanks:

Before: It is a common
After: that eating carrots gives you perfect vision.
Answer: myth
Before: Even the best teams have
After: about how to play the game.
Answer: disagreements
Before: Learning how to resolve
After: is an important life skill.
Answer: conflict
Before: Nobody is perfect; we all have our own
After: .
Answer: flaws
Before: As puppies
After: into adult dogs, they usually become calmer.
Answer: mature

Comprehension

Questions:

Text: Best friends who never fight have the strongest relationships.
Answer: false
Text: Handling conflict well shows that a friendship is healthy.
Answer: true
Text: True friends expect each other to be perfect without any flaws.
Answer: false
Text: It is normal for your friend group to get smaller as you get older.
Answer: true
Text: Drifting away from a large crowd means you are losing your social skills.
Answer: false

Scrambled:

Text: friends / huge / best / that / myth / a / There / is / never / fight
Answer: There is a huge myth that best friends never fight.
Text: healthy / handling / a / of / sign / a / friendship / is / conflict
Answer: Handling conflict is a sign of a healthy friendship.
Text: your / their / own / friend / has / flaws
Answer: Your friend has their own flaws.
Text: older / your / shrinking / friend / group / you / get / as / notice
Answer: Notice your friend group shrinking as you get older.
Text: just / losing / social / skills / are / up / growing / you / not
Answer: You are not losing social skills just growing up.

Written Expression

Questions:

Text: Describe a time you had a disagreement with a friend. How did you fix it?
Text: Do you prefer having a large group of friends or a few close friends? Why?

Examples:

My friend and I had a disagreement about what movie to watch. We fixed it by taking turns choosing the movie.

I prefer having a few close friends because I feel more comfortable sharing my true feelings with them.

Critical Thinking

Title: Dig Deeper: Navigating Friendships

Instructions:

Why do you think people often try to hide their true feelings to avoid disagreements?
Explain the concept of 'socio-emotional selectivity' in your own words. Why does our brain do this as we mature?