source: www.youthwork-practice.com | 2000 Games, Devotions, Themes, Ideas and more for Youth Work
only for private using

From letting to letting them do it

Let them try for themselves
©: www.youthwork-practice.com

It takes quite some courage to let go of a child. To enable the child to make its own mistakes and learn from them. However, this is the only way it will ever learn to be independent. There are still parents who have their 4 – 5-year-old child in a buggy. That’s the way they bring them to the kindergarten. How should those kids ever learn to walk? Or learn perseverance? This is only an example, but indicative of the behaviour of some parents. You mean well, but you harm the child - more than you know.

... and if the student has not gone at least half of his way alone, he has learned nothing. Socrates

This wise saying of Socrates comprises the realisation of learning. There is no point teaching a child or a student anything at all if he does not have the chance to apply in life what he has learned.

Observe and give feedback without criticising
©: www.youthwork-practice.com

The point of all learning is, to implement what he has heard and to make it his own experience. It does not help if the teacher, the parents, the caregivers try to teach the child something, while at the same thing do each and everything for them. Children need encouragement to work things out for themselves.

Many children (or adolescents) are too withdrawn to try anything for themselves.

There are many reasons. Maybe you never let it try, perhaps you criticised too often, or because the adults were afraid that the child would fail or something could happen to them. Some parents protect their child in a way, that they inadvertently raise a dependent, anxious and weak teenager. Some parents do not trust their children at all (maybe because they do not believe in themselves?).

What can the saying of Socrates mean in youth work?

Trust the kids
Let them try for themselves and only intervene in emergencies
Observe and give feedback without criticising
Don’t do everything for the child. Challenge it because challenge means encouraging
Create a sense of achievement and praise them always
Encourage the kids to keep going, to continue.

From letting to letting them do it

What can the saying of Socrates mean in youth work?

More helpful articles