Managing Adolescence - One day workshop for Children from the World Vision Project in Chennai. 19 July 2008

This one day workshop on managing adolescence was a participatory workshop. We had a number of activities that taught young people to be assertive, to do critical thinking, making assessment of a situation, making decisions, being creative, introspection while having a lot of fun. The participants were between the ages of 12 to 16. There were almost 100 adolescent girls from various communities in Chennai. 

 

The session was led by Mrinalini Sekar and assisted by Thamilarasi and Magdalene Jeyarathnam.

 

At the end of the day the children gave feedback about how they felt and how they enjoyed the activities. Some simple exercises on managing pain during menstruation were also taught to the children.  The young people completely enjoyed all the activities and asked for more such days of fun and learning.

 

Some of the activities were

 

Activity	Learning
Warm up
who am I	Identifying self. Defining oneself
Mirroring	I am a reflection of so many influences. Towards identifying my unique self
Lead with a body part	Open your mind to possibilities – not to be blocked by the straight and narrow – creative thinking
Exercises to combat woman-specific and gynaec issues	To emphasize that they should talk to someone responsible Ways of managing their physical pain Very often adolescent girls may experience pain or if meet with an accident or fallen down.
Wind	Realization of adaptation of self to every relationship( mother, family/,friend)
Toe-chalk	Identification of emotion is necessary step to solution Creative thinking and lateral thinking  Interpretation of the individual drawing was done within the group and there was a lot of emotional ventilation.
Me and my space	Learning to set limits; to say an emphatic NO Building a house  Being assertive, and the right to say no if you don’t like what somebody doing in your house
Relaxation and breathing exercises	Identifying avenues for frustration release
Trust Building	Dealing with the complex emotions of trust
Naming the Dance	Help children who are shy to be bold enough, creative and lateral thinking Fun way of decision making
Free dance	Party time
Cool down