Why Do I Like You? An Activity on Friendship

Proverb For Life - Proverbs 17:17   “A friend loves at all times, a brother is born for a time of adversity.” (ESV)

I am so thankful for my friends.  My friends who walk beside me through life, encouraging me on the hard days, laughing with me on the silly days, and dreaming with me about the future.  Friends who listen.  Friends who care.  Friends who take time out of their day to invest in my life.  Friends who go to God on my behalf.  Friends who trust me with their heartaches and their happiest moments.  Friends who challenge me to be the mom and wife God has called me to be.  I could not say thank you enough to them for the gift of their friendship!

One of my deepest desires is to be this kind of friend to them as well.  It is so easy to get wrapped up in my day and my concerns that I miss the opportunity to BE the kind of friend God calls me to be.  With God’s grace, I hope my friends not only know how much I dearly love them, but that they feel that love too.

I want to raise my children to understand what a true friend is.  I want them to choose carefully the people they allow to be their best friends.  Friends who will be there for them when they need it most.  Loyal friends. Godly Friends.

But even more important than having Godly friends, I want them to BE Godly friends.  This is so hard for my eldest who is at an age where impressing her friends is all that matters – or at least it seems that way.

We did this activity with all the kids, but it was especially important for me to have Precious A really think about what being a good friend looks like.

You’ll need some note cards or you can just make your own.  (The girls’ cards came from Michael’s and the boys had blank cards that they colored from Hobby Lobby that were left over from Christmas gifts I made for their teachers).

We read the verse of the week to the kiddos (Proverbs 17:17).  We talked about what the verse meant when it said a friend loves at all times and what that would look like.

Then we had the kids pick one friend that they would write a note to.  Before they wrote the note, they had to tell us 5 things they liked about the person they chose. I wrote those 5 traits on a 3 x 5 card so they could keep the card.

Then they wrote.

Precious A wrote a beautiful note to her best friend.

Princess L drew a picture and wrote, “I love you,” to a friend.

Little Man and Big Boy colored their cards and told me what to write!!

Then we talked about the things they could do to BE a friend.

Here are some questions to ask to get them thinking about what makes a good friend and how they can BE a good friend:

• How does it make you feel when your friend is nice?
• How does it make you feel when your friend is unkind?
• How does it make you feel when your friend is irritating you on purpose?
• In what ways are you nice to your friends?
• In what ways are you unkind?
• What are some things you do that are irritating to others?
• How can you encourage your friends to do the right thing?
• What is your response when they are encouraging YOU to do the right thing?
• Do you do things just so people will like you?
• What is better?  Having people like you for doing the wrong things or having people like you because you do the right thing?
• Do you want the people who like you for doing the wrong thing to be your friends? Why or why not??
• What are you going to ask God to help you change so you can be a better friend to your friends?

The second half of the verse says that a brother is born for adversity.  If your child has siblings you can remind them that although their sibling is not perfect (just like they are not perfect),  their sibling was born to be a support for when life gets tough.  They can even be a best friend.