Session 20/21

Page 6/7: Topic D: Practical skills development for children and youth

Topic D: Practical skills development for children and youth

Topic D offers ideas and activities to help children and youth adapt well to life in the community.

From being served to being self-reliant

What do pilot studies tell us about healthy developments after settling down?

SOS Parents grow skills in building social networks. Some start their own small business and join savings groups etc. For their children, the shift from services and daily routines in the Village to life in the community can be a major challenge in the start – they must adapt the skills they learned to the new environment. In time, this experience will make them learn to become self-reliant. The children must quickly learn to adapt, and they have many doubts about how to make friends and master any new basic skills: How to negotiate the price of food in the market, how to care for animals, take a bus to school, how to pay a bill, etc.

The African traditions: How children best learn practical skills

In traditional village cultures, children naturally learned daily skills from infanthood. Farming was sustainable and valued care for the environment. They observed and imitated the practices of their adults and elder siblings, and helped according to their age. There was no division between work and leisure time: singing, dancing and seasonal celebrations were part of a whole.

How can SOS Parents use their valuable traditional knowledge to train social and practical skills?

Combining practical skills and relations work

In the foster family, children must be active participants in daily family life. This does not mean that they should do all house work. It’s important to find the balance between chores, school work, and play and leisure activities for each child. While teaching daily skills, caregivers can make relations work. To make them feel secure, talk with them about their feelings, worries, dreams and thoughts. In this way, they learn the practical skills they will need after leaving care, and they will feel proud and responsible.

Here are examples for teaching infants, children and teenagers:

Train skills from early life!
Play and fun is the forerunner of learning rules and skills. This SOS Parent uses imitation to make an infant feel secure. She teaches him how to imitate her feelings and behavior, and how to interact with another person. This makes him feel that he has a secure base, so after a while he is safe enough to explore the world, and exercise how to play with a football.

Skills and games for young children
Here is an SOS Parent working with young children. She guides them in practical tasks, and at the same time she has joyful dialogues with them to make them feel proud of the new skills she teaches them – washing your own clothes.

Besides skills training, she also knows that traditional play activities make children laugh and enjoy living. Play makes children build physical strength, control their body, learn social cooperation, and how to follow simple rules. Here are a number of traditional African games you can apply.

Skills and activities for older children and teenagers
As children grow older, skills training is combined with the learning of moral values, and preparing for the life after care by learning useful crafts, and know how to protect yourself. Here, an experienced father – who is also a foster and kinship father – tells us about guiding the young for life, by acting as their role model.