Friendships and Relationships: Manaakitanga

We have been working together in Learning Groups.  These people are not always our best friends, in fact they may be people we don't choose to play with at all.  When working together though we have noticed that we are developing a working relationship.  When this is working well it is really satisfying.  We have noticed that many of the same things apply to a successful leaning group and a good friendship.  Underpinning this are the principles of trust, responsibility and respect.  We call this Manaakitanga; the things we do to uphold and uplift each other's mana.

This is our brainstorm.  Can you see that Care, Kindness and Help are in the intersection of our Venn Diagram?

This group are supporting each other in their learning!

This piece of writing is from a group of students: 

It feels really horrible when people are mean to us. When people say things like you can't play, it is upsetting. It makes us feel sad.

The kind of things we don't like are:
people not being inclusive
when people steal friends 
keeping friends to themselves
people being mean
when people whisper behind our backs

What is a friend? 
A kind person. 
Someone that is inclusive. 
We have positive conversations.
They sometimes have humour. 
They are respectful.
Someone that makes you feel good about yourself.
A person who makes you feel better when you are sad. 
A person who helps you when you are hurt. 
A person who stands up for you. 

Do you have to be friends with everyone? 
No, if you are friends with everyone you would have no time for your true friends. However, you do have to be kind to EVERYONE!