As part of the Healthy Youth program called The Adventure of Adolescence, the Healthy Youth worker Hana Buskova offers children “guidance” through this challenging period of their lives. Read how she managed the program with a group of fifth graders – pupils who are literally on the verge of adolescence.
When you see the HY worker Hana Buskova communicating naturally and easily with pupils at school, children listening to her and confiding in her, you would never guess that just a few years ago she was very hesitant about accepting and offer to become the Healthy Youth ministry worker.
To ensure that everyone enjoys the program and gets the most out of it, it is a good idea to clearly define the rules at the outset.
She didn’t believe those times that children would listen to her. However, my visit to her fifth-grade HY program called The Adventure of Adolescence left me in no doubt that this leap into the unknown was the best decision for her and her young listeners.
The class of fifteen children is part of a primary school in the center of a large city and is known for having many children from different ethnic backgrounds and immigrant families.
Occasionally, some children have problems with the Czech language and some with attention deficit disorder or hyperactivity, but thanks to their wonderful teacher, they have been getting along well since the beginning of the school year.
Today’s topic is full of sensitive and intimate information and requires a high degree of cooperation and a certain level of personal maturity. First, Hana reminded the children who she was (this wasn’t her first time in this class) and repeated the rules for a well-functioning program.
Then everything began to revolve around the child’s life journey: that it takes two people to conceive – a mom and a dad, what the individual stages of fetal development look like, the process of childbirth, that everyone is completely unique, right up to the very beginning of puberty. At the same time, it was not a dry presentation of information. Hana, for example, was interested in what it was like for children in their mom’s womb. Or how they feel now, on the verge of adolescence, when their bodies are beginning to change rapidly.
The children could experience their uniqueness by looking into the eyes of their classmates or comparing the size of palms of their hands.
There was also work in small groups, where children came up with ideas about everything that comes into their lives as they grow up. It was also very practical to talk about what to do with unexpected “symptoms” (sweating, hair growth, or voice changes) and to answer anonymous questions that these roughly 11-year-old children could write down on pieces of paper for Hana during the break.
Anyone can write their suggestion or contribution to the topic right into the pre-prepared picture on the board.
Hana concluded the program by focusing on relationships. The pupils thought about where and with whom they actually have relationships and how they can tell whether they feel comfortable or uncomfortable with someone. They also talked about relationships on the internet and the need for caution in this regard. The two hours flew by very quickly, ending with the motto: “The program is over, but your journey through life continues!”
To give a complete picture of what happened in the classroom, it is worth adding that among the anonymous pieces of paper with questions, there were also two messages to Hana saying: “We love you!” and “Come again!”
I would gladly come again too…
Martin Stavjanik, the Authorized Supervisor of the HY Program workers
