Youth Education Character

Character Building Books For Kids And Teens

2011-11-16T09:27:00.000-08:00

Growing up in modern times is hard, especially for today's generation. They are so much more socially and morally aware than our generation, and most certainly the generation before us. Kids are under so much more social pressure than parents today ever experienced during their lifetimes, and their enquiring minds ask difficult questions and face extraordinary challenges, and very often, with no access to any answers.

Modern social challenges

Technology and social media has changed the way young people interact and it has opened doors to worlds we, as parents and teachers, are all only still learning about. But just because fast paced environments are taking kids through a whirlwind of mature scenarios, doesn't necessarily mean they have had evolved to a level of emotional maturity that will assist them in dealing with tricky emotional and moral decisions.

Life skill and character building resources

Parents, kids and teachers need to have access to resources, such as kid's books, that will provide an avenue for kids of all ages, to be able to have some support and guidance through characters in books that role-play situations that kids themselves could find themselves in. Issues like bullies and peer pressure are as old as the hills, but with the added environmental changes, the load for kids and teens is huge. Kids are building their own characters, their own values and gaining a sense of personal accountability, and parents and teachers need to take an active role guiding them.

The benefits of Character Education

Character education resources such as those found in kids books, will help kids and teens relate to real-life scenarios and have the ability to safely navigate potential situations with the guidance and assistance from parents and the characters found in the kids' books. These books have been written by experienced professionals who have worked with kids and teens and have a unique understanding of the challenges our youth experience today.

Motivation exercises for kids and teens

Character education has the exclusive way of tapping into the minds of pre-teens and teens and is able to inspire and create confidence as they work through the resource material at home or in the classroom. This may even further encourage readers to take part in kids writing contest or two, where they will be able to put their real life experiences to paper, and have an opportunity to share their life and the choices they made with other kids their age, and gain some recognition, which in turn, builds confidence.

Common hurdles for kids and teens

Who am I? What do I believe in? Where am I going in my life? Questions like these and others can seem insurmountable for kids, as being in the biggest transition phases of their lives, kids and teens are going to need large doses of compassion, love, patience and guidance to get them safely through to the other side, and help them to practice the values and guidelines caregivers use, and learn how to use them effectively on the way.

Education and Emotional Intelligence

2011-10-20T09:36:00.000-07:00

How can we expect our youth to be good leaders if many of our educators and parents are not? Emotional intelligence helps us to form a strong foundation for making good life decisions. Studies show that at best, IQ only contributes about 20 percent to the factors that determine life success, leaving 80 percent to other forces.

We expect our youth to graduate from school with the tools necessary to be successful throughout life. Most of us can agree that these expectations are not being met. For example, South Carolina has a dropout rate somewhere between 35 % and 55 %. At a 50% dropout rate, the South Carolina economy is losing $273 million per year in revenue from lost wages, taxes and productivity for only one year of South Carolina high school dropouts. Multiply that by a 30-year lifetime and the costs to the South Carolina economy is $8.19 Billion for one lost class. We can multiply that cost by years of dropouts and then multiply it across the country.

Statistics also show that high school dropouts are 3.5 times more likely than high school graduates to be arrested and 8 times as likely to be in jail or prison. So when we add in the cost of jails, prisons, alcohol and drug abuse centers and mental institutions, we begin to get an understanding of the cost to society of this lost potential.

What is happening with our challenged youth? They feel they are not being heard and accepted. They are voting with their feet by not completing their education. We have been attempting to fit them into a small box of possibilities while they want to expand into the vastness of their potentiality. Instead of hearing the dreams and desires of these challenged yet talented kids, we have been telling them what they are to become. Many youth leave high school and college not knowing what they want. They may be discouraged from pursuing their dreams by those who have no dreams. They do not get engaged. They do not understand how the work they are doing in school applies to their lives.

In order to capture the passion of others, we must build emotional bonds. Brain research shows that all our decisions are made by routing sensory signals through the emotional part of the brain. If there is a compelling event, the brain can literally be hijacked by this most ancient part of our brain before the thinking brain has a chance to engage.

Almost 2/3 of our values and beliefs are formed before the age of five. Our emotional impressions and memories are based on emotions from our past. They create feelings and feelings create our thoughts. Research has shown that we are over 80% unconscious everyday. In most cases we do not realize that we are making decisions based on beliefs from the past that may or may not apply to the current situation. The way we think causes our behavior. Our behavior causes responses or reactions from others that either build up or tear down relationships. We then build successful or unsuccessful outcomes. The resulting cycle is the way we think becomes our habits of thought and these habits of thought become our attitudes.
Attitudes are a key component of emotional intelligence and play a major role in success. We can learn to be mindful and responsible for what we are thinking while making a choice for success thoughts. When we have negative thoughts that move us away from our goals, we can recognize them and choose differently. Developing a successful attitude becomes the preferred choice when we determine that we are responsible for choosing positive thoughts that move us closer to our goals.

Another key component of emotional intelligence is building relationships through compassion. We are not islands and we cannot reach our goals alone. For those children who are not taught how to build relationships, they may be ostracized from groups. Many are not taught to be compassionate and do not understand and value each other's differences. Children are taught to be competitive and may undermine each other as a matter of habit. All of this carries over into our adult life unless we learn how to overcome our relationship obstacles. However, when we are taught how to build relationships, we learn to recognize the value of each person. Even relationship-challenged youth can learn to engage with others to assist them to achieve their goals. It is a win - win for everyone involved.

A third key component is to build hope in us and in others by establishing goals. We want and need to have a vision and a purpose in our life. We want to understand what is important to us in the social, mental, physical, ethical, family and career areas of our life. These are the things that get us out of bed in the morning and that give us passion. These things will clarify for us what our values are. We can then establish what is important. By setting goals and moving toward them, we find hope. When we are hopeful, we find our joy. We can then play a part in helping others to be hopeful and to achieve their aspirations.

These concepts help to build strong leaders. There is a great need to educate our students about what it takes to make good life decisions. This can only be carried out by educators and parents who understand it themselves. So I repeat the question ... can we really expect our children to be good leaders if our educators and parents are not? When we do not understand the underlying basis for deciding what is a good choice and what is a bad choice, we have no method in place to help ourselves and others to recognize what is moving ourselves and others closer to the kind of life we want and what is moving us further away from it.

Character - Reasons to Care

2011-10-03T09:29:00.000-07:00

Why should we care about character? Character is the sum of all of the qualities we can develop as human beings that have a positive effect on our lives and those of others. People with strong and effective character qualities such as honesty, courage, courtesy, patience, helpfulness, trustworthiness and more improve the lives of everyone they interact with. People with undeveloped characters who lie, cheat, or steal cause harm instead.

It's common in any discussion of character to start pointing to who is responsible for it, and that usually means fingers aiming toward parents. While parents are responsible for raising children to have good characters, they are not even close to the only players on the field. For instance, who is responsible for training the parents? Developing knowledge and skill with character is a lifetime process for everyone.

The education system has a key role to play. Teachers must have the training to be able to assist their pupils to learn and demonstrate qualities such as friendliness, responsibility, integrity, self-discipline, flexibility, confidence, compassion, cooperation, and more. Character education at the elementary school levels is growing across the United States each year. However, the middle and high school years are crucial as well. As children learn about relationships and sex and work toward their eventual careers or jobs, they must learn about character as the foundation of all their choices.
They need to know about detachment, respect, and self-discipline so that they don't become young parents or infected with life-changing infections and diseases. They need to know and experience acceptance, gentleness, compassion, and peacefulness. Then maybe they won't think about killing their fellow students. They need to know at this stage of their development what plagiarism, honesty, and integrity are. As adults, then they will be less likely to steal other's words for university papers, cheat on their expense reports, or lie to voters.

Religious communities and civic organizations such as Scouts have their role to play as well. Youth groups with leaders knowledgeable about character can exert a strong and positive influence on teens, who may not immediately look to their parents for guidance. Peer pressure in groups such as these can encourage friends to make positive choices. These groups can fill teen's time with healthy learning and growing activities.

Relationship, marriage, and parenting education are vital for marriages to be strong and for parents to be skilled in raising children to have strong characters. Parents must be equipped with the knowledge and skills to be able to show positive role modeling for their children. From their children's earliest years, they need to understand the significant effect they exert by including character qualities in their language with their children. This means saying "Please be patient" instead of "Oh just shut up and wait." They need to acknowledge every effort their child makes to practice a quality well. If a child shares a toy, the parent should acknowledge the child for being loving and generous. If the child assists with the housework, he/she needs to be acknowledged for being responsible and helpful. Encouragement, modeling, and reinforcement will help the children to understand the qualities that will guide their words, actions, and choices throughout their lives.

Librarians and bookstores can choose and feature books with stories that teach children, teens, and adults the joys and consequences of character choices. Story hour for young children can include stories with simple lessons that help the children go in positive directions in their lives. Wise books for junior youth and teens can be fun to read and include valuable lessons and influence.

Neighbors can assist children and youth in showing respect for property, picking up trash, and assisting the elderly with their homes. How neighbors interact can teach children about character qualities such as friendliness, tolerance, flexibility, courtesy, peacefulness, tactfulness, and thoughtfulness.

The Benefits of a Character Assembly

2011-09-29T09:27:00.000-07:00

More and more schools and youth groups are embracing the concept of a character assembly to inject a little something different into the routine of the youth of today. After all, how many children and teenagers switch off when you are lecturing them about the qualities they will need later on in life? Instead of giving up on the future generations' character education, we should simply look for a different way of doing things and that is exactly what character education assemblies can offer.
We should all be committed to developing children and teenagers in order to help them achieve their goals and dreams, as well as live a happy and healthy life in today's society. By nurturing character traits, we encourage students to become successful individuals and better decision makers. By making sure they have been educated in essential ethical values, we can help them to develop and make the most of every day.
Essential ethical values that should be communicated during a character assembly include many traits that we take for granted and are lacking in society as a result. For example, the list includes respect, social responsibility, honesty, citizenship, fairness, equality and dignity. These are all core values that should be taught and instilled in every young child. However, if we neglect to teach our children about these values through character education, then what kind of character can we expect of them in the future? More importantly, what chance do they stand of making a success of their lives without basic core values?
Character education is just as important as reading, writing and arithmetic in schools and youth groups today. When planning character education activities, consider having a character assembly. There are character assemblies available that supplement and enhance most character education programs. It is our responsibility to nurture and teach the next generation so we can make the world a better place. Clichéd I know, but possible!

Importance of Physical Education for Adolescents

2011-08-06T09:43:00.000-07:00

For all young adults / adolescents / youths, physical education or physical activity is a must and very important in their lives, as physical exercises help in the holistic development of the individual which help them to make the transition and become matured when they reach their adulthood. Today lifestyles and habits practiced by the youths play a significant role when they enter adult lives. In addition to this, the lifestyle choices which they cultivate now, will be adopted and practiced when they become adults. This is why outdoor activities and physical education helps to develop the character and makes the youth responsible and matured. It also makes the youth socially responsible, makes him or her to do something for the society and for other beings. Due to hectic lifestyles, most people don't find time for exercise or spend quality time with their families.

According to many national health publications, the fitness and overall health of the American youths are declining, its high time youths should get involved into numerous activities like sports and social work which will make them a better person and a healthier being.

There are numerous programs and institutes which actually gives you all sort of training, courses and projects; where you can learn many important things apart from physical education which will be constructive. You will be given with all essential information; such has eating health balanced food, how to develop your leadership skills, sex education, personality development and even how to score better grades! You can even try extra curricular activities like painting and crafts.

Try joining the local gym to develop your health and personality, indulge your self in indoor games which is fun and healthy. Try swimming which is amusing and a great exercise. You can even try cycling, jogging, running, mountain climbing, canoeing, dance, aerobics, karate, take-won-do and gymnastics. Yoga is also a popular exercise for your body, mind and soul. There are many outdoor activities which you can try. Join a tennis or squash club. If you love spending time at the beach or if you enjoy the sea water and basking in the sun; then try playing beach volleyball, surfing or Frisbee with you dog. It is really enjoyable when you play with you friends or family. It is a great way to keep yourself fit and bond with the people whom you love.

Political Process & Urban Youth Development In Niger Delta

2011-07-06T09:45:00.000-07:00

At in-dependency in 1960, the Nigerian population was about 50 million. Currently we are an estimate 158 million, meaning that 120 million Nigerians are below the age of 43 years. If those above 60 years are only about 38 million, it therefore means those between the ages of 18- 43 years are the majority. That is about 110 million. Registered voters are currently 130 million according to Electoral Commission of Nigeria, clearly more than half of those eligible to vote are 18 years and above. The pertinent question is therefore: where are the rest of potential voters as out of the 110 million registered voters, only less than 80 million voted in 2007?

The hard fact cannot be bailed out, as more than 142 million people by the Nigerian law are eligible to vote, excluding the ex-convict and the de-franchised.

Then the following ethical summations are put down figuratively:

o 20 million youth aged 18 and above have no Identity cards automatically eliminating them from the voting process.

o A significant number of them have no birth certificates therefore they do not exist.
o Majority (34.3%) of the youth who have votes are apathetic to the whole process. They feel their voting would not make a different.
o For the youth that vote, majority (32 million) vote for the wrong reasons such as: electing leaders from their ethnic groups even though they do not merit, electing those who have dished out the most money, peer pressure and often pressure from one's family to vote for particular leader as a block.
o A large percentage of the youth watch at the periphery as they are ignorant of the importance of being in political party specifically in the mainstream politics were crucial decisions about a nation are made.
o Civic education has yet to fully incorporated and emphasized that there are youth who are great leaders and merit a chance.

As for those youth in mainstream politics, they face the following:

o Patronage; where senior party members do not create spaces for the youth to play crucial roles in the political parties.
o Lack of clear political party ideology and value system that guides the operation of the party and the conduct of its members indiscriminately especially on age and gender.
o Ethnicity where membership of most political parties is dictated by ethnicity stemming from the founders of the parties or the individuals that are funding it. This has caused chaos, and a lot of heartache for youth who find themselves barred from progressing or participating in crucial roles. The shift of loyalty, distrust, corruption and vertical solidarity determines who gets what within the political parties.
o Gender discrimination has had a negative impact on young ladies within the parties whose participation is limited and their contribution unrecognized. The culture of violence, mud slinging and character assassination has discouraged many competent young ladies from fully engaging in politics.
o Lack of resources, especially funding political activities and maintaining the required mechanisms.

In terms of the employment process, just like the political process and structure development paradigm, young people have the highest rate of unemployment and in many ways are the most vulnerable to the social depredations that are caused by unemployment and poverty. At the same time they are the promise of the future, and failure to invest in the young generation imposes great constraints on the potential for future development. Whether it is investing in the creation of decent work for young people which boosts the economy and lowers the demand for social services, or whether it be supporting peer to peer models of HIV/AIDS education, or supporting youth in creating food security for their community, research has shown that investing in youth brings about healthier youth and healthier communities

STRATEGY AND MOBILISATION FOR YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

The federal Government and its Amnesty group of trustees, and other stakeholders such as NGOs, CLO and other Private donors are a multi-faceted strategy that focuses on recognizing the on-going work of youth on the key urban issues of: economic development; urban peace and conflict; HIV /AIDs; and environmental degradation. These four areas that has become paramount a leverage to resolving the unending national and regional conflicts both religious and economically motivated, that 73% perpetuated by the Youths. The core of the SC strategy is the recognition that youth have the capacity to be meaningfully engaged in urban development programmes. The SC through various youth development initiatives will be a vehicle to mobilize resources to support those most marginalized youth populations in initiating and sustaining youth led programmes.

Strategy 1

Creation of urban based youth resource centres that directly support youth led development issues, such as the Youth Development and rehabilitation, a program set up by various states and local government in Nigeria, especially glaring in the Nigeria Delta, Western, Northern and Eastern geopolitical zones of the country. The focus of these hubs will be a space for youth to organize youth-led programmes in the area of economic development, prevention of violence, and delivery of education and services on HIV /AIDs. This strategy is further outlined below.

Strategy 2

Training youth as peace builders: The World Youth Report 2009 states that a majority of warfare takes place in developing countries, particularly in Africa, where an estimated 200,000 young soldiers between the ages of 10 and 24 risk their lives in the course of armed conflict willed by adults. Even in countries not plagued by armed conflict, the youth have often been misused in the political arena. While their energy and enthusiasms are powerful tools in promoting social or political issues, they are also vulnerable to being misled and misused, often leading to disruptive results. Youth need to be involved in violence prevention strategies, not just conflict reaction strategies. Youth can take the lead. There is also an implementation strategy through collaboration between Federal government agencies (MYA) and their subs, local and national youth organizations, NGOs and local authorities focused on creating effective and sustainable models for urban youth development and employment in Nigeria.

Plans are now in place to assist in the design of other regions/states of the country since by virtue of its implementation in Niger Delta with the following objectives:

Objective of the SC Youth Centres Project:

- To encourage partnerships with relevant stakeholders in the delivery of youth development;
- To increase knowledge, skills and attitude change of young people;
- To respond to educational, socio-economic, recreational, emotional and psychological needs of young people in an integrated way;
- To encourage youth to have greater ownership of development;
- To offer leadership and mentorship to young people.

Six Key Areas of Intervention:

1. Employment and Entrepreneurship: To build capacity of youth to participate effectively in urban poverty reduction through training and by offering employment opportunities in self-employment, formal and informal sectors.

2. Governance and Advocacy: To enhance youth contribution towards better governance by promoting increased youth participation in local government matters, particularly those concerning youth development.

3. Health: To provide services aimed at preventing and solving reproductive health problems amongst the youth by provision of information, skills training, education on reproductive health, counseling and referral services.

4. Communication and Information: To establish mechanisms to effectively communicate and disseminate information to youth, youth organizations and other partners involved in youth work.

5. Environment and Resource Management: To strengthen youth engagement in the protection and improvement of the environment by promoting their participation in environmental justice and governance initiatives.

Needs for financial support:

- Establish satellite resource centres in informal settlements
- Define and initiate employment creation programmes, micro-credit programmes
- Enable more health services to be offered free
- Build more networks and partnerships both locally and internationally
- Provide the library with books and information
- Provide computers for office work and internet access
- Build employment training programmes including global mentoring and monitoring
- Establish a youth trust/small grants programme for entrepreneurship

This partnership has been constructed in order to learn from each other best practices regarding how to address the diversity of challenges facing youth today in urban communities, systems to enable them to make sustainable decisions, and the inter-generational transfer of values.

For more info contact to collinsoshodi@yahoo.com