More Games

Hi Everyone. Thank you Sweetie Pie for your comment. I am glad the "I've got mail" game worked for you. I think it is fun for all ages and no matter how often I play, I still enjoy it.

So...more games:

Group Former

One way to get people into groups is to write down 3 or 4 (or however many groups you want) things on a card and hand them out. For example, you can wight down 4 different songs if you want 4 groups and everyone has to hum the song they were given and find the others that are humming the same song. Or animal noises or something else.

Paperplates Ranking

Put the numbers 1-10 on 10 paper plates. Ask people to find the number that expresses how they feel. For example, tell everyone to think of how they feel on a scale of 1-10, 10 being fantastic and 1 being horrible. Or you can use the numbers for how much they like an activity or how they feel about an issue, etc. Allow people to share why they chose the number they did.

Beach Ball Toss

Buy and inflate a beach ball that has the different color areas on it. Write with a permanent marker a question in each area. Throw the ball to each other in the circle and when someone catches it, they have to answer the question in front of them.

Learning Names Toss

Get everyone in a circle. Have each person say a person's name and throw the ball to that person. They can not throw the ball to someone who has already had it. When the ball has gone to everyone, go around again in the same order. Start it a third time in the same order, but start adding more balls until there are lots of balls being tossed.

Have fun!

LA

Ice-breakers

Wow! It was great to hear your voices today on the conference call. It reminded me of what great people you are and how much fun I had with you at the training.

Some of you wanted to hear more about the ice-breakers we did. John, you said the "Two Truths & a Lie" worked great for you. So let's start with that one.

Two Truths and a Lie

Ask each person to write down on an index card, 2 things that are true about them and 1 thing that is a lie. Each takes a turn reading their 3 statements. Then ask the group to raise their hands if they think that statement is a lie when the person reads them again slowly. You can demonstrate with yourself first if they don't get it.

Concentric Circles

This activity starts with the group getting into 2 circles. The inside circle turns around to face the outside circle. Then ask a question that you want them to answer with the person they are facing. After a few minutes when both have shared, ask one circle to move to the left one person. Ask another question. Continue until the circle gets back to the beginning.

This is a great introduction exercise or one when you want people to be thinking about things you will be teaching or exploring later.

Line Up

Ask your people to line up according to something, but they can't talk. It could be how old they are or how long they have done something, etc.

I've Got Mail

Everyone gets in a circle with a piece of paper under their feet to mark where they are standing. You get in the middle of the circle and explain that you will have mail for all those who ....something that is true about them. It also has to be true about you (& whoever is standing in the middle). If it is true about them, they have to find another spot to stand that is NOT adjacent to where they started. The one who can't get a spot has to go into the middle and say something true about them.


More tomorrow!!

LA

Important Notice

Heads up Everyone!!

Important Announcement about the blog!

It has been decided that YOU are now going to be the bloggers. YOU, the Americorps Members, are going to own and take care of this blog!

I have had a lot of fun writing you all, but there has been very very little interaction or comments.

So hopefully we are going to have some of you want to be bloggers. You will be able to blog weekly or so which won't take much time at all.

So tell me what you think about this. Suggestions? Comments?

LA

In Touch

Hello Everyone!

Well, I think we beat patience to death, don't you?

Let's talk about being in touch. Maybe I am wrong, but that seems to me to be easy if you are working with youth. Being with them as they watch tv, listen to music, talk to each other....and ASK QUESTIONS.

Who is that?
What does that mean?
What do you like?
Who is your favorite...?

Another way to keep in touch is to ask each other. You each hear and learn about things the others might miss. Share the new "cool" things that youth are into.

When you are driving the youth somewhere, listen to what they talk about. You will learn a lot.

I used to be in touch because I had four teens...with an 11 year spread. Now my youngest is 20 and I am pretty out of touch. I know some of the music, but not much else. I need to be more intentional about what youth are into these days.

So are there any other ways you can think of to keep in touch?

Next time lets look at some of the "in" stuff.

LA

Patience V

Hi Everyone!

This is the last blog on patience for now...unless requested for more. There are a few more tips to share with you.

1. Eliminate boredom. When you are waiting for traffic or in a doctor's office or for teens to get ready, etc. have something to do.

2. Spirituality helps with patience. Prayer and/or meditation can be a way to calm yourself. It is also a way to help the situation by calling on a Higher Power.

3. Have an affirmation or mantra like gimmeshack said. Something to say to yourself over and over to calm you down. I like the slogans from the 12 step programs:

Easy Does It
Let Go & Let God
Live & Let Live

Those are some of my favorites.

4. Remember that being patient with others, especially youth, is a form of respect. We talked about adultism in the training. (When adults act/feel like they are superior to youth.) One way to practice caring and respect is to be patient with others.

5. Remember that patience is bad for your health...raises your stress levels and blood pressure. You are happier when you are patient.

6. Detach with love. Try to observe the teen's behavior without letting it bother you. Breathe deep and relax. Be nonjudgmental and just observe. Be like an anthropologist observing the youth culture.

Anyway, if any of you have any more tips or methods to become more patient, let us all know!!

LA

Patience IV

Hello Everyone,

Sorry I haven't been blogging much this week. I have been working too hard. Did an AYD training for our shelter residential staff. We had fun, but it was a small group.

Thanks Gimmeshack for your comment! Mantras and sayings DO help and especially if others know you are struggling and can help or laugh or both.

I will finish the list of ways to help with patience that we started.

Step Six Remind yourself that things take time. Soemtimes we are impatient because we see what needs to be changed, fixed or done now. And it isn't happening. So we can breathe deep, relax and remember that things take time. I try to remember that there are things in a person that need to grow or heal on the inside first before they can make a lot of changes on the outside.

Step Seven: Expect the Unexpected. Plans often go wrong. People are late. Things don't go perfectly. We only stress ourselves out when we get impatient with life's little turns and twists. Besides, we are working with teenagers and non-profits!

Step Eight: Don't be a Perfectionist. When we hold ourselves to really high standards, we will be impatient with ourselves and others. I am guilty of being the hardest on myself. Today, I didn't look good becuase I messed up. It made me impatient with myself even when I got home. Life is hard enough as it is, without us beating ourselves up. If you do that, you need to stop. Me too.


Step Nine: Remember What Matters. Or "How Important Is it?" I try to do that when I am driving too fast. I ask myself if where I am going is as important as an accident. Then I can slow down and not be impatient with those slow drivers. Or at work, is it more important to get everything done or to listen?

Easy stuff to write about, but hard to do.

Let me know what works for you!

Have a great weekend!

LA

Patience III

Hello Everyone, I have been traveling again. If you are wanting to move on to a different topic, you will just have to be patient. LOL

Everyone been practicing their patience?

I would love to hear from you guys. Just click on the comments and let me know how you are doing and whether you are becoming more patient.

Actually, what usually happens when you want to change a habit is this:

You decide you want to stop doing a certain behavior.

After you have done the behavior again, you realize it afterwards.

This goes on for awhile.

Then you start noticing in the middle of the behavior that you are doing it.

That goes on for awhile.

Then you catch your self as you begin the behavior....and stop.

After awhile you can stop yourself before you do the behavior at all.

Finally, you will notice that you don't even think about or do the behavior much at all.

The example I love for this is a child being potty trained.

First the child doesn't even realize she is wet.

Then she learns about the potty.

For awhile after she pees in her pants, she says, "I need to go potty".

Then while she is peeing in her pants, she says, "I need to go potty."

Then she says, " I need to go potty" and while she is running there, pees in her pants.

FINALLY, she says "I need to go potty" and makes it there without peeing in her pants. She still might have "accidents" but they will be less and less until she doesn't even have to think about it. Her new behavior is a habit.


It would be silly (but human) to be impatient with yourself as you try to learn patience!! It takes time. But you can do it!

Let me know how it goes!

LA

Patience II

Hello Everybody,

We will continue our blog on patience.

Step One: Give yourself time and space
Step Two: Make a list of what causes you to lose patience.

Step Three: Whenever you find yourself losing patience, take deep breathes. Our body reacts to stress and we get agitated...ready for flight or fight. Taking deep breathes can cue in our body that we can relax. It also helps to repeat the serenity prayer.

God, Grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.

Step Four:Look for patterns. Are there certain times, situations, clients, activities where you lose your patience the quickest? Look at what you can do to change that. Or ask for help and ideas for what you can do to make it less problematic for you.

Step Five: Practice being patient in the non-important areas. Like driving! Practice being patient with the horrible drivers out there and you will find it easier to be patient with teens. You need Step One to do this of course. If you aren't running late somewhere, it is easier to be patient at the 5th red light in a row, or the driver that cuts in front of you and slows down or the driver that does 5 miles under the speed limit in the left lane....aaaah!

Anyway. That is enough for today. I need to do these things myself. I have had too much to do and too little time and thus been impatient and stressed.

Hope some of this is helpful to you too.

Soon,

LA

Patience

Patience

Well, I asked my 20 year old son, "How do you get patience?"

He said, "You mean like a doctor?"

I laughed. Patience not patients. But I think a sense of humor is definitely one of the ways to have more patience.

So let's get started....

I found this article on patience:


The first step in becoming more patient is to figure out if you are doing too much or spread too thin. Well, most of us in social services can say a big yes to that one. I know that if I don't have enough time, I lose my patience quickly. If I am late, I am impatient with other drivers, red lights, etc. I also have a job that has a lot of different things going on at the same time. It stresses me out and I lose patience.

So for me, trying to do one thing at a time and giving myself enough time helps.
But, I don't think that is what you all meant by needing patience.

So step two might be more helpful:

Pinpoint the triggers that often make you lose your patience. Impatience creeps in insidiously, and if you feel anxious, worried, or unhappy you may not even realize that the underlying cause of these feelings is impatience. To reduce the frequency of impatience, it helps to be aware of it. Which events, people, phrases or circumstances always seem to make you lose your cool? Sit down and make a list of all the things which cause you anxiety, tension, or frustration. At the core of most triggers is a reality that we have a hard time accepting. What are those realities for you?

We can all try it.

First: make a list of all the things that make you lose your cool.
Second: ask yourself what you might be resisting.

The 12 step programs have a saying: Life on Life's Terms. Others have said, "Whatever you resist persists." Anyway, the idea is the same. Life just is. People are going to act the way they do. Teens are going to act the way they do. If we can expect that, it might help us not lose our cool so much. Resisting reality makes us stressed and angry...impatient!

Anyway, I think I will make the list....will you?

Till tomorrow,

LA

Future Blog Topics

Hello Everyone!

It is hard for me to be back to work. The daily stuff is not nearly as much fun as being with you all. Nor is it as fun as swimming and being on the beach!

So I jotted down the topics that you all named more than once as areas of improvement. I would like to spend some blog time on each one. And if you have more, please let me know.

These are the areas:

Patience
Communication skills
Being energetic
Being in touch
Being non-judgmental
Motivation
Professionalism

So we will spend some time on each of these. And I hope that those of you who are strong in these areas will add your own things that work for you.

So tomorrow we will start with patience....

Till then,

LA

WOW

WOW! What a Training!

Thanks to all of you who were there. I just love all of you and miss you too. What a great time we had. It was your training and you were awesome!

I only regret that we didn't get a complete group shot! So I put in the one we got of all who were still there when we remembered to take the photo.

I left Cocoa and went to Siesta Key for a few days to relax and swim and sun. Now I am back to work and ready to blog!

I hope you all will click on the comments and jump in!

For today, I will put up your best practices that you came up with after each section of the training. So here they are!

Best Practices

Become a Mentor

Set High Standards

The Starfish Story..."It Matters to This One"

Stay Aware

The Golden Rule

Claim Your Successes

Support Them But Challenge Them

Never Forgetting Where You Come From (Your Situation) And Those Who Helped You Along The Way.

Helpers Need Guidance



So there you have it: your best practices.

Any thoughts on them?

Till tomorrow,

LA