They are inseparable, playing football and hide-and-seek together. But Monty is sad because he wants a "special friend". So on Christmas Day, Sam gives Monty the gift he has been dreaming of, a new penguin friend called Mabel.

Our friendships are among the most valuable relationships we have. We gain in various ways from different friendships. We may talk to friends in confidence about things we wouldn’t discuss with our families. Our friends may annoy us, but they can also keep us going.

Friendship is a crucial element in protecting our mental health. We need to talk to our friends and we want to listen when our friends want to talk to us. Our friends can keep us grounded and can help us get things in perspective. It is worth putting effort into maintaining our friendships and making new friends. Friends form one of the foundations of our ability to cope with the problems that life throws at us.

“The best thing my friend did for me was that they just accepted me as I was.”

“They kept coming to see me even though I didn’t seem to want them and they made me laugh.”

External links

• Citizens Advice Bureau
• Relate: relationship counselling
• Child Maintenance Options
• Abuse
• How to Break Up Respectfully
• Love and Romance
• Teens Talk About Love (Video)
• Your Thoughts on Falling in Love
• Getting Over a Break-Up
• Date Rape
• Abusive Relationships
• How Can I Improve My Self-Esteem?

View our pages on friendships and relationships at http://www.asknormen.co.uk/friendshiprelationship-difficulties/

Look out for our newsletter coming in December about Family Life.