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What types of things do you and your friends fight about? How do you work things out?

Here's what others said


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When Friends Fight: Make Peace, Not War Friends Fighting
When things are going great with our friends, life is good. When things are going

Topics on
When Friends Fight:
Make Peace, Not War
Think About It
Talk About It
The Importance of "I'm
    Sorry"
Group Fights
Make Up and Move On
Ending Friendships
From the Mentors
Fantastic Fables of Fighting Friends
The Boy Who Needed
    Space
The Girl With Two Faces
Attack of the Rival Friend
The Bickering Buddies
not-so-great, life can turn super-crummy, super-fast. Many of you wrote to us to share your experiences and questions
about what happens when friends fight.

  • Sydney, 11, was confused because she heard a rumor that her best friend was talking about her.
  • Jordan, 10, wonders if you can still love someone after they make you mad.
  • Jasmine, 9, feels a lot of pressure when she gets into a fight and knows her side of the fight is wrong.
  • Emily, 11, told us that her best friend tells a lot of "little lies" and now she doesn't trust her anymore.
  • David, 12, and his best friend got into a big fight and although he wants to apologize, he doesn't know how to do it.
  • Krystal, 10, and Jennifer, 10, are both sad because their best buds don't seem like they want to be friends with them anymore.

The truth is, even the Greatest Friendship In The World will run into some bumpy spots. Everyone fights with his or her friends every once in a while, whether it's a small misunderstanding or an atomic blow-up. Because our close friends mean so much to us, fighting with them can make us feel hurt, angry, frustrated, and deeply sad.

So, accept that fights are normal. That's the easy part. Knowing how to deal with them is a little harder. That's why we put together this guide to help you. Read through IML's tips for patching things up, starting with how to Think About It. Then, for more fight-busting examples, read through our Fantastic Fables of Fighting Friends, starting with "The Boy Who Needed Space."

Our thanks to Deborah Hardy, President, New York State School Counselor Association, for her contribution to this topic.


Books Express how you feel about fights with friends, in this IML Journal Page. If you want to read some great fiction and non-fiction books about the topic, check out our When Friends Fight printable book list.
E-mail a friend E-mail this page to a friend    Printable version of this pageGet printable version of this page
Make Up or Break Up
Make Up Or
Break Up
!

Vote Now
If you and your friend had a crush on the same person, what would you do?
Fight over
        him/her.
Tell him/her to
        pick one of you.
Keep it a secret
        among your
        friends.
-- From Connie, 9


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