Teenage or adolescence is a tumultuous period. It is the time when internal hormones and outer changes in appearance, make a lot of difference in teenager’s perception towards life and society. This is also the period of self discovery and character building. If proper and adequate care and attention is given to teenagers during this time, then they grow up into caring and responsible citizens. If there are adolescents around you either as students or your nephew/niece or your own kids, it is high time for you to inculcate good habits and positive perception towards life in them. This can be done by involving them in some simple and interesting activities. By doing things themselves and by reflecting upon various issues during these activities, the adolescents will be able to imbibe positive and healthy changes in their life with ease and calmness. Here, we present you with a few activities which can help the teenagers go a long way in their lives.
1. Role plays: Gather all the teenagers you know and give them some role to play, usually things which deal with complicated issues of their lives. You may find these issues quite simple but they can be quite complex for teenagers. So, think from their perspective and give them a few situations in which they have to take a decision and then justify it. For example, a teenager finds his best friend taking drugs. Now the dilemma for the teenager is whether to tell his parents about this dreadful fact or not. Once the person enacts the role play and takes a decision, ask him to justify and then discuss with other teenagers and tell them that sticking to right things is a must in life. It is in best interest of the drug addict friend that this fact be revealed to his parents even if it comes at the cost of breaking friendship.
2. Self Appraisal: Ask the teenagers to jot down their own strengths and weaknesses in a diary. Ask them to reflect on their weaknesses and think of the ways how they can overcome it. This activity will help teenagers understand themselves well and during tumultuous times, respond in a positive and calm manner.
3. Volunteer work: Another way to make the teenagers realize that how much fortunate they are in this world, is to make them volunteer for not so fortunate people. Ask the teenagers to do some kind of volunteer work, they will do it happily. It can be anything, they can simply help the next door elderly person in her gardening or kitchen or can collect books and clothes for the orphans or can go and teach disabled in the nursery when they are free. The idea is to make them understand that the world is full of miseries and they are fortunate enough as they do not go through the same miseries and pains.
4. Empathy development: For developing the feelings of empathy among adolescents, an interesting exercise can be through slip writing. Write some open ended phrases on few slips of paper like “when someone makes fun of my looks i feel….” or “when someone appreciates my efforts I feel…”. Choose typical phrases which elicit both good and bad feelings from teenagers. This kind of activity will give the teenagers an opportunity to reflect upon their emotions and will also give them a sense about how other people will feel if they come across same kind of situations.
5. Extempore: Select some topics that relate to teenager’s life directly and make a few slips. Ask the teenagers to pick a slip and talk about the topic for two minutes. This instant activity will bring out hidden feelings and will give them a chance to talk about the issues spontaneously. This process will also make adolescents discover their inner most feelings in a candid way. You can then facilitate the process and help them solve the dilemmas and contradictions of their lives.
These simple activities can go a long way in changing the perception of the teenagers and give them a healthy out look of life and society. Learn to think and see things from their perspective and always keep your opinion and tone non judgmental while talking to the teenagers. Give them maximum opportunities to reflect and decide about issues related to their lives.
Via: Ehow
