Creating Friendships Beyond Social Distance

Peace, Love and Connection - Tips for parents to help their teens and tweens stay connected over the holidays!

We care about deeply about our students, educators and parents! Let's inspire our children to keep their leadership skills and make new friends during these challenging times!

Beyond Differences™ has been innovating programs for children, parents and teachers on how to create connections, acceptance and inclusion for over 10 years. We know what to do and how to do it.

During this holiday season, it is more important than ever that, as adults, we model for our children how to practice these strategies at home and in school. Before and during the holidays. Below are some tips we'd love to pass on to you to help your child create friendships beyond social distance!

Follow #HappyConnectionDays on Instagram for additional tips from experts throughout the holidays!

Tips To Stay Connected While Socially Distancing! (click on an image to download the PDF)

Check out these additional resources:

From The National Coalition to End Social Isolation:

Resources from Social-Emotional Learning Alliance for California (click to visit their list)

Distance Learning Resources from our friend Sam Drazin at Changing Perspectives (click to visit their list)

In The News

ABC 7 NY: Protect Our Children: Stress, Coping and Hope

Fun ideas from our Portland Teen Board of Directors

National Programs

Our innovative national programs have inspired a cultural and behavioral shift at middle schools and high schools across the country. Join our movement to end social isolation by bringing one or all of these programs to your school.

Know Your Classmates is designed to explore middle school youth's identity and belonging, understand traditions, and recognize stereotypes. Multi-cultural and multi-faith backgrounds are common in today's schools and Know Your Classmates is speaking honestly with children about their feelings and experiences with one another. Know Your Classmates Day is Friday, October 23, 2020!

No One Eats Alone™ teaches everyone how to make friends at lunch, often the most difficult part of the school day. Created and organized by students, this is our most popular program where schools in all 50 United States participate! National No One Eats Alone Day is Friday, February 12, 2021.

Be Kind Online is a powerful engagement program for middle school youth, their teachers and families. Focused on creating inclusive communities online, particularly learning to respond to digital gossip to reduce social isolation, Be Kind Online Day is May 14, 2021.

All of our programs encourage taking the pledge to never exclude others, reaching out to someone new, and spreading the word that inclusion is cool!

		Donate Now
Sign up to join the movement! Find us online		Beyond Differences empowers students to end social isolation in middle school through online and on campus programs. We want to ensure that every child in middle school feels accepted, included and valued by their peers no matter what their differences.