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Showing Friendship

Showing Friendship

Here at True Balance Karate in Downers, Grove Illinois, we have a social emotional learning program called True Character. I’m Master H, the owner and chief instructor here at the studio. I have two master’s degrees in education. We’ve developed this curriculum to meet the needs of our youngest students who are three or four, and our oldest student who is 85.

What is Friendship?

And this month we are talking about friendship, showing respect and having trust in each other.

And so as we’re talking about friendship, last week we were defining what that meant. This week we’re talking about showing it. What does it look like when we are showing friendship to other people? And that could be being kind, that could be sharing common interests, sharing stories, that could be playing games together, doing things together, having long conversations on the phone. That could be lending a helping hand. It just depends on where we are in life, depends on what friendship looks like and how we show it.

Quality Time and Care

So for my young students, my elementary age students, showing friendship could be inviting fellow classmates to your birthday party. It could be having the soccer ball and bringing over a whole group of people to play soccer with you. And that’s how you form friendships. That’s how you show friendship. That’s how you show that you have respect for each other, that you have trust in each other, that you are kind to each other, that you want to build a friendship with that person because you’re saying, “Hey, come and join me over here.”

For my teenage students, it could be walking around, going to the park together. It could be riding bikes. I remember a few years back, my son was 13 at a time or so, and all of a sudden there’s a knock on the door because a whole group of people that he was friends with showed up and said, “Hey, let’s go for a bike ride and ride over to so-and-so’s house.” And that was what they did. That’s how they were showing friendship to my son.

And then of course, we get into driving age and college age. What does friendship look like at that point in time? Well, the actions are very similar. You’re taking care of each other. You’re working together on a group project. You are having common interests. Then all of a sudden we’re adults. And showing friendship might be being available to watch each other’s kids or talk on the phone and work through a situation or someone to just go and get coffee with and sit there and share what’s been going on in our lives, right?

Communication

Friendship is this give-and-take, back and forth. So if we’re showing friendship to each other, we are listening to each other, we’re taking care of each other, we’re there for each other, we engage with each other. And we like hanging out with each other because that’s what friendship is.

And will there be conflict? Yes, there will be conflict. You can’t put two people in a room without having some moment of miscommunication or hurt feelings. But if we’re really good friends, then we’re going to use a great apology. “I’m sorry for this. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings this way. This is how I plan to make it up to you. Let’s still be friends. Let’s continue to work through it. Let’s communicate,” that kind of thing. And being good friends means that you have to show some grace and honesty and understanding to the other person.

Showing Empathy

So, as we’re showing friendship, we’re demonstrating all of the same behaviors that we want people to give to us, right? We are demonstrating that, “This is how I would like to be treated, so I’m treating you this way.” And it’s that back and forth kind of relationship that really, really shows what kind of a friend you are.

And later on, we are going to talk about how we want to receive friendship and all the things that go along with that.

Thanks, and I’ll see you on the mat!

 


True Balance Karate was founded in 2012 by Master Sue and Paul Helsdon.

We offer kids karate lessons for pre-school children ages 3-6 and elementary age kids ages 7 and up. These lessons are designed to develop the critical building blocks kids need — specialized for their age group — for school excellence and later success in life.

Our adult martial arts training is a complete adult fitness and conditioning program for adults who want to lose weight, get (and stay) in shape, or learn self-defense in a supportive environment.

Instructors can answer questions or be contacted 24 hours of the day, 7 days a week at 630-663-2000. You can also contact us here. True Balance Karate is at 406 Ogden Ave Downers Grove Illinois, 60515 (next to CVS) Check out our Facebook!