Will You Be My Friend?: A Let’s Talk picture book to help young children understand friendship

Friendship is a key ingredient for creating a sense of belonging and feelings of security. However, forming and maintaining friendships is not always easy: children need to engage in pro-social behaviours such as initiating play, co-operating, understanding different view-points, sharing, turn -taking and solving problems.'Will You Be My Friend' is a great resource for teachers and parents,offering little readers a chance to reflect on social skills and think about what it takes to be a good friend. As adults we can't make friends for children, but we can help them to understand the key ingredients of friendly behaviour. 'Will You Be My Friend' suggests practical things to do & ways to behave e.g. asking questions to show someone you're interested or making eye contact while apologising.A dip-in guide book, each double page spread gives eight examples and pictures of friendly behaviour. For example, if you'd like to show a friend that you care, you could notice new things about them, show concern for how they feel or make a card for their birthday. With simple language and practical examples, children can easily relate to the content.The only example I don't feel comfortable with is the suggestion that, 'A friend is someone who we trust to keep our secrets.' While trust and keeping confidences are indeed a key part of relationships and important social skills, this book appeals to a young age range.As a parent and educator, I tell my three and four year olds that it's important not to have secrets. For slightly older children, in my opinion, this example warrants important discussion about good and bad secrets, or the difference between a surprise and a secret.Ideal for sharing at the start of the school/pre-school year when new friendships are forming, this book is a great resource for the PSHE/SPHE library shelf and can be revisited at any time, to offer gentle reminders about pro-social behaviours & explore ideas for maintaining friendships.For example,if a friend has upset you, you can tell them how you're feeling (using 'I statements'), listen to each other or clearly explain what would help you feel better.Importantly, it also describes behaviours which could be not-so friendly, helping children to reflect on things that may 'risk upsetting or annoying another person' e.g. boasting, interrupting others or teasing. For some children, such explicit examples may be helpful.The book also includes a guide for parents with information about empathy skills, using 'I messages', and advice about how we as adults can be important role models for children by valuing and working at our own friendships.Complimentary copy provided by Bloomsbury Publishing in exchange for an honest review. For more details about this book & links to other useful resources, see my profile with link to my blog.

Good book

She loved it.

Bought for my son who has ASD and struggles with how to talk to other children. He is 5 and this book has really helped him in a straightforward and practical way.I liked the step by step guide on how to talk to others - it's helped him with that initial "Hi, how are you?" And he regularly compliments people now as suggested in the book and it's helped him to be that much more confident in talking to others.Some parts are a little out of his understanding yet - but that means we can use this book for a longer amount of time and it's been a resource we go back to again and again.Thanks for writing this - it's been a great support to him.

Nice book but a bit waffley. Kind if too much information and we got a bit bored. Probably fine for older kids but my 5 year old lost interest

Crucial book for any child. Best way to learn basic psychology about making friends. Very important life lessons that even parents can neglect.

This is our third book from this series that we have purchased. All of them really make my twins think about things and reflect on situations. Really useful books to use over and over

Its not a story book. It provides simple guidelines to friendship. I did not believe it would hold my 4yr old sons attention but he really enjoys it and seems to be taking it in

Great book, would recommend!