SUGGESTIONS FOR BUILDING ASSETS

Asset # 33 – Interpersonal Skills

(Young people are good at making and being friends)

To Build Asset # 33 Parents and Extended Family Can . . .

* Treat your children the way you would like to see them treating others.

* Think out loud when you consider your child's feelings or the feelings of others.

* Include many different people as visitors in your home and among your family's circle of friends. Encourage your children to get to know different types of people, and let them "live sensitivity"

* Help children look at their own friendships, at what they and others do to make a good friendship. Comment, sometimes, when you see them showing (or not showing) good relationship skills.

* Use "teachable moments" to talk with your children about empathy and sensitivity. Share your own experiences. Make things personal and concrete.

* Read a moving story or watch an inspiring movie as a family.

* Cry together sometimes—it opens up the heart and fosters sensitivity.

* Take your children to visit others, then talk about their experience. Example: Visit a nursing home. Give out cookies, sing songs, or just visit.

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 43% of youth surveyed by Search Institute have this asset in their lives.*

*Based on Search Institute surveys of almost 100,000 6th to 12th grade youth throughout the United States

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"Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It's not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything." -Muhammad Ali

"A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same." -Elbert Hubbard