Healthy and unhealthy friendships, and bullying

Good friendships have rough patches, but they leave you feeling mostly safe and respected. This lesson helps you tell the difference between a normal falling-out, a friendship that is quietly harming you, and bullying, and shows where to get help in the UAE.

Signs of a healthy friendship

• You trust each other and can talk about important things.
• You can say no or disagree without being punished for it.
• Effort goes both ways, and you enjoy spending time together.
• Problems get talked through and do not keep repeating. Kids Help Phone notes that strong friendships can, and often do, have rough patches.
• Friends can also simply drift apart as interests change, without anyone being at fault (Kids Help Phone).

Warning signs of an unhealthy or controlling friendship

• You often feel let down, put down, or afraid of being made fun of (Kids Help Phone).
• You feel pressured to do things you do not want to do, or the friend pushes you to change how you dress or look (Raising Children Network).
• The friendship feels one-sided, with lots of jealousy and drama, and nothing improves when you try to fix it.
• They manipulate you, leave you out on purpose, or are mean in person or online (Raising Children Network).
• You regularly come away from time together feeling angry, anxious or bad about yourself.

When it becomes bullying

• The Anti-Bullying Alliance defines bullying as 'the repetitive, intentional hurting of one person or group by another person or group, where the relationship involves an imbalance of power.'
• It can be physical, verbal or psychological, and can happen in person or online.
• UNICEF describes cyberbullying as repeated behaviour using digital technology, such as social media, messaging or gaming, meant to scare, anger or shame someone. Examples: spreading lies, posting embarrassing photos, threatening messages, fake accounts, or using AI tools to create harmful images.
• UNICEF notes that a 'joke' becomes bullying if it continues after you have asked the person to stop and you still feel hurt.
• Khaleej Times reports that the Ministry of Interior's 'Say No to Bullying' campaign states that bullying in any form, psychological, physical, verbal or online, is a crime in the UAE.

What you can do

• Unhealthy friendship: list the pros and cons, decide in your own time, and take space by spending time with other friends (Kids Help Phone).
• If you want to keep the friendship, tell them calmly which behaviour must stop. If you end it, Raising Children Network suggests naming the specific behaviour, and watching for any retaliation or cyberbullying afterwards.
• Cyberbullying: do not reply, block the person, use the app's report tool (UNICEF notes that on many platforms reports are anonymous or confidential), and save screenshots as evidence.
• Tell a trusted adult: a parent, relative, teacher or school counsellor. UNICEF suggests choosing a calm moment and explaining how serious it is.
• If a friend is being bullied: listen, be kind, offer to go with them when they report it, and encourage them to tell a trusted adult (UNICEF).

Where to get help in the UAE

• Your school: report bullying to a teacher, counsellor or social worker. The Ministry of Education has a training manual on addressing bullying in schools (UAE Government portal).
• Ministry of Education Child Protection Unit: call 80085 or email CPU@moe.gov.ae to report bullying or abuse (UAE Government portal).
• Ministry of Education student hotline: 80051115, for any issue affecting your learning (UAE Government portal).
• Ministry of Interior Child Protection Centre: hotline 116111, or the Hemayati app (UAE Government portal).
• Online threats, blackmail or cybercrime: see the Personal Safety module for police reporting channels. If you are in immediate danger, call 999.