Lesson 4: Friendship And Support

1. Introduction

Our first two lessons focused on personality, self-esteem and the physical and emotional changes young people go through in puberty. They mature from being children to adults with their own responsibilities. Growing towards autonomy with one’s own opinions and values is an important part of adulthood: young people become more independent from their parents, while at the other hand their own social network of peers and friends is becoming more and more important.

This lesson focuses on this social network of friends, peers and family. Who are the most important people in their lives? What is friendship? What does it mean to be a good friend? Who gives them support? And why is having friends and a social network so important? In order to give clear messages, young people should be able to communicate effectively. This lesson teaches students how to communicate about their needs and limits. How can they do this assertively, but still politely, so people will take them seriously and listen to them?

Finally, asking for support and offering support to others is key in achieving dreams. Students, therefore, will make their own map of support (My support circle), so they make explicit who in their lives can give them support and in which situation. This can help them to approach those others when they need support it also teaches them how to be supportive to others.