Whysup Kids
Aggghhhh two addicts have just arrived in a primaryschool!!!!!
But fear not, we are not here to talk about drugs, alcoholor Mark’s gambling tales!
We are here to get these kids thinking about the things wenever did!
All joking aside you may be asking is right we go having discussions with younger kids. The truth is we asked ourselves this question but came to the conclusion we don’t have to go into gory details to get a message across.
In fact we work with children in schools and sports clubs from the age of 8 years old and more often than not we don’t even mention addiction.
The things we do talk about include;
Their goal – who and what they want to be.
What may stop them achieving their goal – good and bad choices
Consequences
Asking for help
Communication
Team work
Looking out for each other
Mark and I have done this in a number of environments butone of our favourites was when we took over an under 9’s football trainingsession. A mixture of drills, games and team talks helped us make an impacthold their attention to get the message across whilst also tiring them out!
Our young people are far more exposed then we ever where,the internet, social situations, gaming and peer pressure has changed the worldour kids grow up in.
We believe they are growing up quicker and having to makedecisions and set boundaries sooner.
So this is where we come in…
We may not need to discuss addiction and recovery, but we doneed to help them set rules and boundaries for this world which is normalisingdangerous behaviour.
Our kids will listen if we talk to them, they will be farbetter equipped if we start talking to them young and we are giving them theability live happier lives.
From the parent and staff feedback but most importantly thesmiles and thanks from the kids we work with we believe Whysup’s approach isworking!
