Working together with children

WORKING TOGETHER WITH CHILDREN (Piripono)

 1.  All children are people and are intrinsically of equal worth to adults

2.  Difference is to be valued, honoured and celebrated

3.  It is possible for all people to live and work together cooperatively

4.  The best decisions are made by those most effected by them, namely the children

One of the major limitations of hierarchical and bureaucratic organisations has been a tendency to take the people working closest to us for granted or simply as things and units of labour in order to produce measurable outcomes for our superiors. This objectification of human beings, including children, has extended to organisations, being treated as things to be bought and traded by their trustees and stakeholders, rather than communities of people engaged in some constructive activity together as emerging leaders.

We are much more than units of labour. Children just like us are individuals with many capacities – physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual, creative, intuitive. The recognition of our wholeness and the need to express ourselves fully is a key to successful interaction between people within organizations such as schools and youth centres.

The expression “whole people in whole organisations” is used to express this approach. The question arises what kinds of relationships and patterns of culture will support and nourish the whole person? The extent to which senior staff and trustees spend or don’t spend their personal development budget on their front-line workers is an indication of how much youth mentors can be valued or devalued. The whole person approach uses the distinction “peer relationships, peer partnerships and peer mentoring” – to express the integration of the whole person and recognition of whole personhood in all human interactions. Youth mentoring can nurture this whole person process.

The rapid development of human consciousness by means of digital technology and the Internet is making these ideas more acceptable and recognisable. Many people are aware of their wholeness, their magnificence as beings and want to live and work in new creative, fulfilling ways that honour this increase of awareness, personally, socially and culturally.

  Recruiting Children For Group Activities

  Recruitment efforts need to focus on those children who would like to participate in a specific kind of group activity. Teachers, family members and trusted friends who know the child need to be consulted as to the strengths, needs and capacity for children to benefit from a particular type of group activity. It is not beneficial for a child to be referred just because they have been troubled, disruptive in class or because someone who is categorised as knowing the child well thinks group participation may somehow miraculously change a child’s non-conformist behaviour. As well as getting information from the referral source and people who are already immersed in the child’s life, the child should also be consulted for any ideas they are willing to share about their personal aspirations and to help the child assess for themselves what their learning interests, spare time activities and hobbies are currently, not just what they were perceived as being interested in before.

 Getting to know children – first session

 Spend the first session making “all about us” posters or booklets. Get the children to ask one another questions about what they would like to see happen. This could include pictures of the children engaging in their favourite activities or electing an activity they would love to be involved with in the future. When these are completed use them to initiate conversation. Ask each student questions about their poster. For example: I see skates and a hockey stick. Do you watch hockey games on TV? What is your favourite team? Do you skate? Have a hockey stick? Play hockey etc? Find out what the child likes to do in their spare time? If a child tells you they like to watch television, ask about favourite shows.

Ask the child about their family: how many brothers and sisters does the student have? If the student is an only child, ask about cousins, friends, grandparents, aunts, uncles, heros. At a second session have the students draw a picture of their family. You as a youth mentor do the same.

Ask the child about their favourite foods. For example: do you like pizza? What do you like on your pizza? If you could make your own pizza what would you put on it? Draw your special pizza for me.

Ask the child if they have a pet and if so to tell you about it. If they don’t have a pet, have them talk about the kind of pet they’d like to have. Find out about the children’s ages: How old are you: When is your birthday?

Seasons: What is your favourite season? Why? What do you like to do most in the winter, spring, summer, autumn?

Bring a puppet or organise a role play. Take turns playing with the puppet or acting out different parts in a situation that’s happened in the playground or in a scene they’ve seen on TV.

Display a sense of humour. Laugh with the child. Tell a couple of age appropriate jokes. This is always a good icebreaker. Once you know what a child’s interests in particular group activities are you can help them find information on the Internet using a school computer or their own mobile phone and discover local skilled mentors and community organisations that could help your school or youth centre provide that activity.