Friendship

Post taken from Facebook, but I felt it warranted inclusion here.

Last week I read through three third grade classes worth of essays about friendship (I was a judge). To all of my Facebook friends, I wanted to share what eight and nine year olds have to say about friends and friendship. It may be a bit long, but you'll like it. I'm going to be true to their spelling.

Peter "Never say something weird or gross."

James "To be a friend you need to be: 1. kind 2. friendly 3. trust-worthy. I call it the friendship triangle (and then he drew a triangle). If you take one out, they fall apart."

Emily "Apologize when you have noticed that you have made a mistake."

Maddie "To me I think you need to be as nice as you can and agree to what they say. First, I think that because you don't want to be mean to them and treat them like your brothers or sisters, cause that would be rood."

Sarah "You should think before you say stuff espeshly (especially) if they are a little cenctive (sensitive)."

McKay "Start playing with your friend (unless you're a grownup) (that's his addition unlike this one which is mine) and have play dates."

Taylor "Like for egsapoll (example) when someone was pecking (picking) on I stood up for her."

Collin "Friendship is all about making friends, having fights, and having fun."

Kaylie "You should not yell at them or at least try not to yell at them."

Koki "Whenever they're sad you could probably let them play at your house, and give them a king size candy bar you don't need, or give them a doughnut if you have some."

Stuart "If you were whiny, then your friend wouldn't think you were that interesting at all."

Jesi "If they say, 'Let's have some stew!' you say 'I love you!'"

So to all of you out there, I'm feeling kind of sad. Let's see how friendly you really are.

Here are some other thoughts I have after reading this.  I'm not sure a friend has ever said to me, "Let's have stew."  I don't why grownups can't have play dates.  I still do.  I think apologizing when you've made a mistake is great advice.  And even though I put this out there for all my "friends," no one brought me a king size candy bar they didn't need, or a doughnut.