Over the summer, this column will provide valuable tips to share with teens to help them get along better with their friends, other students at school, their parents and siblings. These columns are all about getting students and their friends talking about violence prevention as a way to make their world a better place for their future. We hope that these tips for teens will help them learn how to live happy, successful, safe lives! They are why we do what we do!!!

Activity 1: How Do You Relate

Everybody knows journaling is a great way to get in touch with our feelings, but did you know journaling can also help you figure out ways to solve your problems? Try thinking of your journal as your very own personal problem solver: it asks you the key questions you need to sort through to find the right solutions for your life. Okay, so where do you get the questions? Here! Use the questions below as starting points to help you work out on paper better ways to interact with your friends.

• Who do I talk to during a typical day at school? Why do I talk to some people and not others?
• When a friend says something that hurts my feelings, how do I usually react? What might that reaction make them think I`m really feeling? (For example, would they think I am angry when I`m really feeling sad and hurt?)
• Is there a student at school I sometimes tease? How do I feel about myself when I tease that student? How do I think it makes that student feel when I tease him/her? What makes me want to tease that student?
• Which one of my friends knows me the best? Do I talk to that person differently than I talk to my other friends? How could I learn from that to improve my friendships with other people?
• If a new student came to school, what would they think about me if they watched how I act at lunch, during gym, or in the halls? Would they think I`m nice? Friendly? Stuck-up? Would they be right?
• Who is one student at my school who I am not close friends with but wish I knew better? What is it about them that make me want to know them better? What`s keeping me from spending time with that student?
• Which one of my friends do I try to impress? What do I do because I think he/she thinks it`s cool? Do I really think it`s cool?
• Who looks up to me? Which of my friends seems to look to me for what`s cool and how to act? Am I being a good role model for them?
• Should my friends trust me? Am I a good listener? Am I there for them when they need me? Do I ever gossip? If I were someone else, would I want to be my friend?
• What would a perfect friend be like? What interests would they have? What kind of person would they be? How close am I to acting like an ideal friend for other people?
• What could I do to be a better friend?

Special thanks to Dr. Jody Roy, Rippon College