1. The adult role Session 7: 120 minutes
Youth Alive Training

2. Goal
Assist adult facilitators in becoming comfortable and confident
Needs
Power point slides
Private place for adults to meet while youth staff exposed to FG activities
Goal
Assist adult facilitators in becoming comfortable and confident
Needs
Transparencies/power point slides
Private place for adults to meet while youth staff exposed to FG activities
Youth Alive Training

3. Overview of adult role
Without them the Youth Alive conference and local club will not survive
Presence of the adult is the Key to a successful program
Overview of Adult Role
Without them the Youth Alive conference and local club will not survive
Presence of the adult is the Key to a successful program
Youth Alive Training

4. Adults must be… Christ committed
Willing to coach, not impose authority
Flexible-Think like youth think
Young at heart
Able to draw lessons from experiences
Appreciative of youth activity
A listener rather than a talker
Adults must be…
Christ committed
Willing to coach, not impose authority
Flexible-Think like youth think
Young at heart
Able to draw lessons from experiences
Appreciative of youth activity
A listener rather than a talker
Youth Alive Training

5. Adult readiness Provide Warm Fuzzy papers to adult facilitators
Give them opportunity to write general Warm Fuzzies for his/her own Friendship Group (without names)
Insert FG members’ names after 1st session
Conference participant should get minimum of 2 Warm Fuzzies throughout Youth Alive conference from the adult and youth co-facilitator of their FG
The more Warm Fuzzies-the more connected they are to their FG
Adult Readiness
Provide Warm Fuzzy papers to adult facilitators
Give them opportunity to write general Warm Fuzzies for his/her own Friendship Group (without names)
Then after the first FG session, insert FG members’ names on the Warm Fuzzy notes so that by the end of the day
Each conference participant should get a minimum of 2 Warm Fuzzies throughout Youth Alive conference (from the adult and youth co-facilitator of their FG)
The more Warm Fuzzies-the more connected they are to their Friendship Group
Youth Alive Training

6. Overview of the need for the adult role
What has changed in our youth today?
Why are sexual urges different?
What appears to be promising in the area of preventing harm and danger amongst our youth?
Overview of the need for the adult role
What has changed in our youth today? More youth are having sex than ever before.
Why the are sexual urges different than in years past?
What appears to be promising in the area of preventing harm and danger amongst our youth?
Youth Alive Training

7. Contributing factors to changes in today’s youth
Women
Contributing factors to changes in today’s youth
Women
Youth Alive Training

8. Declining Age of Menarche
Sweden
Declining Age of Menarche,or change of first menstrual period age. This graph shows the declining age of menarche for girls in Norway, Germany, Finland, Sweden, and the United States of America.
Youth Alive Training

9. Change of first menstrual period
Young women start to feel sexual urges after first menstrual period
During the 18th century we see girls had their first period around 16 or 17 years of age
During this stage of development called “late adolescence” where cognitive maturity takes place, with the ability to make critical sexual decisions
Marriage age was around 18 or 19 years old
Only two or three years before marriage
Change of first menstrual period age
Young women start to feel sexual urges after first menstrual period, menarche.
During the 18th century we see girls had their first period around 16 or 17 years of age.
It is during this stage of development called “late adolescence”, where cognitive maturity takes place, with the ability to make critical sexual decisions.
Marriage age was around 18 or 19 years old.
So the period of dealing with sexuality was only two to three years before they got married.
Youth Alive Training

10. Age of first period has decreased
Today, first period is around 12.8 years
Early adolescence, there is no cognitive maturity
Girls enter middle adolescence - risk taking behaviors
Have little concept of cause and effect
Age of the first period has now steadily decreased.
Today, the typical age at which a young girl has her first period is around 12.8 years.
It is during this stage of development called early adolescence, that there is no cognitive maturity. Girls are not yet able to make wise decisions and usually base their decisions on the influence of others.
Quickly after their first period they enter the phase of middle adolescence characterized by risk taking behaviors.
In this phase of development they have little concept of cause and effect.
Youth Alive Training

11. Changes in marriage age
Today young women get married on or around
23rd or 24th birthday
After struggling with sexual urges through periods of development when not thinking of consequences of their acts, or the impact on future life
Changes in marriage age
Today, young women get married on around their
23rd or 24th birthday,
after struggling with their sexual urges through the periods of development when they weren’t yet necessarily thinking about the consequences of their acts, or the impact on their future life.
Youth Alive Training

12. Physical activities & diet
Young women who are physically active …have their first menstrual periods later than average
Vegetarian girls have menarche later
Physical Activities & Diet
Young women who are physically active and are involved in strenuous physical activities have their first menstrual periods later than average.
Also, vegetarian girls have their menarche later.
Youth Alive Training

13. Contributing factors to changes in today’s youth
Women & Men
Contributing Factors to Changes in Today’s Youth
Women & Men
Youth Alive Training

14. Working parents Both parents work
Children having fewer hours a day spent with a parent
Children rely more on their peers in decision making
Working Parents
The richer and more industrialized countries have become places where
both parents work, resulting in their
children having fewer hours per day spent with a parent.
They now rely more on their peers in decision making, often the critical decisions.
Youth Alive Training

15. Home environment Some kids come from awful home situations
Impossible for teachers to make up for poor parenting
Home environment
Some students come from homes where the environment is often less than ideal. Otherwise stated, some kids come from awful home situations.
Teachers are then asked to correct the bad behavior resulting from the home where there has been poor parenting, a chore that teachers may find to be impossible to execute.
Youth Alive Training

16. Single working parent Struggling to generate sufficient income
Children are often unattended after school
(high risk time)
Single working parent
Other students come from homes where a single parent works hard to generate sufficient income to support and educate their children, leaving the parent in a disadvantaged position to give their children sufficient time for meaningful relationships.
The children may often be unattended after school, the time of day when youth are at most risk for participating in risky behaviors.
Youth Alive Training

17. Typical American home
Average TV watching is 7 hours and 13 minutes per day
One-third of Americans talk to their children about sex
TV talks about sex constantly (14,000 times per year)
By 18 years, youth have watched 22,000 hours of TV (spent a total of 12,000 hours in high school)
TV is the primary sex educator of the youth
Typical American home
Children watch the television more now than in years past. The typical American home has the TV going for an average of 7 hours and 13 minutes per day.
Only about one third of Americans talk to their children about sex, but the TV does it constantly with sexual images and suggestions 14,000 times per year.
By the age of 18 years, youth have watched the TV for more hours (22,000) than they have been in school (12,000).
The television is therefore the primary sex educator of the youth.
Youth Alive Training

18. Impact of school changes (less physical education)
Less exertion
Youth not kept busy
Less exposure to adult authority and supervision
In gymnastics after regular school hours
Students have more time to be home alone before parents get off work
Impact of school changes (less physical education)
Schools across the world have a move to require less physical education and gymnastics. The decreasing age in a girl’s first menstrual period and lesser physical education, results in the following disadvantage:
Less exertion
Youth are not kept busy
Youth have less exposure to adult authority and supervision. Activities such as gymnastics are often taught by adults after regular school hours.
Without this, students would have more time at home alone before the parents get home from work
Youth Alive Training

19. Latchkey kids
This refers to students who go to an empty home after school
Resulting in more adolescents getting pregnant between 3:00pm and 6:00 pm in their own home
Latchkey kids
Students who go home to an empty home after school are referred to as “latchkey kids”.
This results in more adolescents getting pregnant between 3 pm and 6 pm in their own home.
Youth Alive Training

20. Review of contributing factors to changes in today’s youth
Working parents
Home environment
Single parent struggling to generate sufficient income
TV influence
School changes
Review of contributing factors to changes in today’s youth
Working Parents
Home environment
Single parent struggling to generate sufficient income
TV influence
School changes
Youth Alive Training

21. Research findings on low level physical activity in high school students is associated with:
Cigarette smoking
Marijuana use
Lower fruit & vegetable consumption
Greater TV-watching
Failure to wear seat belt
Lower academic performance (compared to highly active students)
Research on low level physical activity in high school students is associated with:
Cigarette smoking
Marijuana use
Lower fruit & vegetable consumption
Greater TV-watching
Failure to wear seat belt
Lower academic performance (when compared to highly active students)
Youth Alive Training