Wellbeing & Learning Diversity

Supporting Children to Solve Friendship Problems

Friendships play an important role in a child's social and emotional development. Through friendships, children learn how to communicate, cooperate, show empathy and manage disagreements. Like all relationships, friendships can sometimes experience challenges, and learning how to navigate these situations is an important life skill.

At St Gabriel's, we encourage children to develop problem-solving skills that help them manage friendship issues respectfully and independently. Rather than immediately solving problems for children, we guide them to identify the issue, consider different perspectives and work towards a fair solution.

When friendship difficulties arise, we support children to:

• Identify the problem calmly.
• Recognise and express their feelings appropriately.
• Listen to the thoughts and feelings of others.
• Consider possible solutions.
• Work together to find a respectful way forward.
• Seek adult support when needed.

These experiences help children build resilience, empathy and confidence in managing social situations. They also learn that disagreements are a normal part of relationships and can often be resolved through communication, understanding and compromise.

Families can support this learning at home by encouraging children to talk about friendship challenges, asking questions such as:

• "What happened?"
• "How do you think the other person felt?"
• "What could you do next time?"
• "What would be a fair solution?"

By working together, home and school can help children develop the skills they need to build positive relationships, solve problems effectively and become confident, respectful members of our community.