Adolescence, a vital stage of growth and development, marks the period of transition from childhood to adulthood. Characterized by rapid physiological changes and psycho social maturation, these are truly the years of creativity, idealism, buoyancy and a spirit of adventure.
At the Miracle Foundation, we consider this phase in a child’s life as crucial. These years comprise of experimentation and risk-taking, of giving in to negative peer pressure, of taking uninformed decisions on crucial issues, especially relating to their bodies and their sexuality.
This month, we conducted a Life Skills Education session on Substance Abuse & Peer Pressure in Cornerstone Children’s Home. The participants were in classes 9 and 12 and it was a mixed group of girls and boys. The objective of conducting this session was :
- To make the participants aware of the various substances that can be abused
- To make them aware of the effects of substance abuse
- To teach them to say ‘No’ assertively
As a part of the session, children were asked to identify their highest hopes and deepest fears in life. The following are the hopes expressed by the children: getting high marks in class 10, helping parents, taking care of the family, going abroad, getting a good job, getting married and having children, establishing the career of their choice like catering, marine engineering, music teacher, bank manager, architecture, singer, dancer, doctor or setting up textile shop, being disciplined, helping others and being a good human being. The deepest fears expressed by the children are as follows: using bad words, getting addicted to substances like alcohol, nicotine, getting addicted to pornography, excessive interest in money, fears that parents might desert them, inability to pursue higher education, family problems, forceful marriage at young age, falling in love, committing crimes like murder, theft, smuggling and death of oneself.The activity helped participants to become self aware and recognize their future goals.
The trainer used the medium of role play to introduce the children to substance abuse and how to say ‘NO’ to it assertively. All the teams got a common theme, where one person is depicted arranging a get together as a part of birthday/house warming/ success in exams. Friends are invited home and the host offers the alcohol and cigarettes. Few friends take it while the others refuse listing the consequences of drug abuse. After a few years they meet again to find that the drug abusers are not successful in life and the role plays ends with giving information on why one should avoid such habits. The kids kept up the energy level through out the session and gave their feedback to the trainer.
The Miracle Foundation understands the need of guidance and direction for the over-all development of these children. We make sure that all the children across our homes are supported to cruise through these turning point of their lives effortlessly.