Healthy friendships are built on respect, trust and honest communication. Respect means valuing a friend's feelings and honouring their boundaries, even when you disagree. Trust means you can rely on each other and feel safe being open. A healthy friendship also involves give and take — both people should feel heard and supported, not just one.
Example
If a friend says they're uncomfortable with a joke, a respectful response is to stop and apologise, not to keep going because "it's just a joke". Over time, honouring these small moments builds trust.
Key terms
Respect:
Valuing another person's feelings and honouring their boundaries.
Trust:
Feeling confident you can rely on someone and be open with them.
Boundary:
A limit someone sets on what they are comfortable with.
Questions
1. A healthy friendship is built on:
Respect, trust and honest communication
Always agreeing about everything
Ignoring each other's feelings
Never talking
2. A boundary is:
A limit someone sets on what they are comfortable with
A type of wall
A rule that never applies to friends
A punishment
3. If a friend asks you to stop a joke that upsets them, you should:
Stop and respect their feelings
Keep going anyway
Get angry at them
Tell everyone else the joke
4. Trust in a friendship means:
Feeling you can rely on and be open with someone
Never speaking to them
Doing everything they say without question
Avoiding them
5. A healthy friendship should feel:
Balanced, with both people supported
One-sided, with only one person supported
Full of constant arguments
Distant and cold
6. Respecting a friend's feelings means:
Considering how they feel before acting
Ignoring their feelings entirely
Only caring about your own feelings
Making fun of them
7. Which is a sign of a healthy friendship?
Both people feel heard and supported
Only one person ever gets their way
Constant put-downs
Never spending time together
8. If a friend repeatedly ignores your boundaries after you've explained them, this is a sign of:
An unhealthy pattern in the friendship
Perfectly normal, healthy behaviour
Something to ignore completely
A joke that should be encouraged
9. Good communication in a friendship involves:
Expressing your feelings clearly and listening to theirs
Never expressing feelings
Talking only about yourself
Avoiding conversations altogether
10. If you accidentally hurt a friend's feelings, a healthy response is to:
Apologise and try to understand their perspective
Deny it happened
Blame them instead
Avoid them forever
11. Empathy in a friendship means:
Understanding and sharing another person's feelings
Ignoring how others feel
Only thinking about yourself
Competing with your friend
12. Peer pressure to do something that makes you uncomfortable is best handled by:
Saying no and standing by your own boundaries
Always going along with the group
Never having your own opinion
Pretending to agree while resentful
13. A friendship where one person always makes every decision is likely:
Imbalanced and not fully healthy
A perfect example of a healthy friendship
Required for all friendships
Impossible to improve
14. Which is the healthiest way to handle a disagreement with a friend?
Talk calmly about it and try to understand each other
Give the silent treatment forever
Yell without listening
End the friendship immediately over small issues
15. Why might a friendship become unhealthy if boundaries are consistently ignored?
It erodes trust and respect over time
Boundaries have no impact on friendships
Ignoring boundaries always strengthens trust
It has no effect either way
16. Which best explains why "give and take" matters in a long-term friendship?
Balance helps both people feel valued and prevents resentment
One person should always give, and the other only take
Give and take has no bearing on friendship quality
Friendships work best with total inequality
17. A friend who only reaches out when they need something, but is absent otherwise, might indicate:
An imbalanced friendship worth reflecting on
A perfectly healthy and equal friendship
Nothing worth noticing
The best kind of friendship
18. Why is it healthy to have friendships outside of just one close friend or group?
It provides a wider support network and diverse perspectives
Having multiple friends is always harmful
One friendship is always sufficient for everyone
It weakens all your relationships
19. Setting a boundary and having a friend respect it, even if they don't fully understand it, shows:
A sign of a respectful, healthy friendship
A friendship that is failing
Something bound to cause conflict always
An unhealthy pattern
20. Which scenario best reflects emotional maturity in a friendship?
Acknowledging your own mistake and working to repair the friendship
Blaming the other person for everything
Refusing to ever discuss problems
Ending the friendship at the first disagreement
21. Noticing a friend seems withdrawn and gently checking in with them is an example of:
Empathy and supportive friendship
Ignoring a problem entirely
Being overly nosy with no benefit
A boundary being broken
Answer key (parent copy)
1. Respect, trust and honest communication
2. A limit someone sets on what they are comfortable with
3. Stop and respect their feelings
4. Feeling you can rely on and be open with someone
5. Balanced, with both people supported
6. Considering how they feel before acting
7. Both people feel heard and supported
8. An unhealthy pattern in the friendship
9. Expressing your feelings clearly and listening to theirs
10. Apologise and try to understand their perspective
11. Understanding and sharing another person's feelings
12. Saying no and standing by your own boundaries
13. Imbalanced and not fully healthy
14. Talk calmly about it and try to understand each other
15. It erodes trust and respect over time
16. Balance helps both people feel valued and prevents resentment
17. An imbalanced friendship worth reflecting on
18. It provides a wider support network and diverse perspectives
19. A sign of a respectful, healthy friendship
20. Acknowledging your own mistake and working to repair the friendship