It can be hard to know the difference between a true and fake friend at first. However, once you know the difference between the two, you should try to make friends and keep them.
Maybe making friends is hard for you because you’re shy or naturally quiet. Even if you’re not shy, it can be hard to talk to people you don’t know well or who make you feel nervous. The fact is, most adolescents feel shy some of the time and some feel shy a lot of the time. There’s nothing wrong with keeping to yourself when you don’t feel like talking.
If you want to have friends, you have to be friendly. That means being kind and thoughtful and learning to talk and listen. Talking without listening isn’t really a conversation at all. It’s just exercising your voice and mouth. If you don’t listen to the person you’re talking to, you aren’t likely to make or keep many friends.
Another way of having friends is by sharing. Once you start conversations, keep them going by telling others something about yourself. Other kids are more likely to talk about themselves if you share something about yourself. Sometimes, sharing means telling others about what your opinions, interests, plans, and feelings are.
Lastly, to be friendly, you should speak kindly to others and of others and be polite. Saying things like please, thank you and excuse me is very important. It also means showing respect and treating people the same way you’d like to be treated. Nobody likes to be bossed around.
Sometimes you may need to be assertive, and sometimes you may even need to speak to people in a strong voice to stop them from doing something harmful. But even then you can be polite. Polite, respectful talk is one way to exude kindness.
Kind talk is more than that too. Kind talk is going out of your way to help others through your words. It means giving words of support to people who are lonely or sad and giving sincere compliments to others. You can show friends that you really care about them through your words.
Kind talk is adding kindness to someone’s life with your words, especially when they don’t expect it. But it can even be more than that. It can also be adding kindness through your actions by doing favours for others.
By taking these steps, you will be learning how to make and keep friends. But you will also learn who can be trusted with your friendship and who can’t. Both are important to be assertive and self-confident.