Frenemies: Unhealthy Friendships and What to Do About Them

Gr 3–5—Sometimes friendships can be toxic. How can you tell when someone is really your friend? Well, do they try to undermine you? Do their compliments sound like insults? Can you depend on them? These are some of the questions applied to the vignettes in this short video. Several friendships are shown using a young multiethnic cast. The problems experienced seem to be the result of a lack of social skills rather than deliberate meanness. Nevertheless, the term "frenemy" is applied. Children are counseled by both adults and the young hosts on ways to mend these friendships. But they are also told that some friendships don't merit maintenance and a person should move on. Both pieces of advice are certainly true. It would have been nice to see a third option—an adult offering help to the children who demonstrated poor social skills. If some students in your class are having problems with interpersonal relationships, this might be an option to start classroom discussions.—Teresa Bateman, Brigadoon Elementary, Federal Way, WA