The session is concerned with the impact adults’ behaviour can have on children’s emotional wellbeing.
Key messages:
- Adults actions impact hugely on children’s mental health. This ranges from divorce, parents working too much or not having time for them, abuse, someone dying, teachers being negative parents drinking/ using drug or arguing. Adults can also have a positive impact by providing opportunities to eat healthy, be active, compliment and encourage.
- “Sometimes adults aren’t good to talk to because they always think you need help or try to make it better instead of asking how you are and talking about your feelings. Adults usually just want to fix the problem and what children might want is somebody just to listen and be there for them.’
Positive adult figures in a child’s life can be: police, ambulance people, youth club adults, parents, carers, grandparents, brothers and sisters, school nurse, teachers, counsellor and doctors.
Considering adults behaviour (at home, school and in the community)
Positive adult behaviour: fun adults, happy, care for children and always help them out. Plays games with you, gives you praise, makes you feel proud of yourself. Gives advice. Doesn’t tell children they did bad, says ‘that’s okay you might do even better next time’. Lets you know they are there for you.
What we need from a positive adult: a place and time for us to talk one-on-one when we are struggling. Let you go on your phone if there is time at the end of class.
Negative adult behaviour: Shouting or screaming at you – it makes you not confident, want to shout back or you wanna knock their lights out. Affect a child’s safety, make you feel uncomfortable, unsafe or scared. Telling a child to do things that’s dangerous or that they don’t want to do – if not a good parent or good role model. It might be scared to go home and might want to stay at a friends house all the time. Telling you what to do an making you feel annoyed – sometimes want to do own thing.
Imagineer Leo has written this blog post:
‘Today we were making our own characters with play doh. We were thinking about positive adults. Imagineer Gabrielle, made an alien called Naomi for her model. Naomi has had light to help children see what is happening at night time. Naomi also has a phone that can never cut out because it always has good reception and she is always ready to listen.
Imagineer Katie made her sister as her model. Her sister likes playing on her phone a lot. She knows a lot of things, she is really smart. She can phone a child when they feel scared or worried or they have good advice for other children that are going through a bad time in their life just know. She can also teleport to children when something bad is happening so she can be there to help them out when they need it.
Also Imagineer Sean-Paul made a man called Jim who has a love detector in his chest. Jim puts his love detector on when he feels lonely or down because it tells him who loves him, and how much they love him. He lets children borrow his love detector when they feel down.’
