Positive exercises for youth well-being

Gratitude Exercise:
Has anyone been good to you or influential in a positive way. It could be a parent, friend, teacher, or coach. Write a letter to this person, expressing thanks and gratitude. Make sure to write how you feel. This exercise is most meaningful if your letter can be read to the intended recipient in person.

Appreciation Exercise:
Identify something that occurred today for which you are appreciative. It could be anything, no matter how large or small, find something that can be appreciated.

Three Good Things exercise:
Name three good things that occurred that day. Focus on even little things that are good, such as a sunny day, a good breakfast, or meeting an old friend.

What Did I Learn exercise:
Young people tend to focus on the negatives of a day. Recall your day's events. Write them in two categories, what went well and what was learned that day. This opens a positive way of opportunity for a meaningful discussion.

More
http://suite101.com/personaldevelopment

Top Myths about Girls and How to develop them

• Girls can't do math; Boys can. 
• Dads are smart; Moms aren't; they just work hard.
• Girls are less competive; They hide desire to win and give up.
• Boys are better leaders; girls are "bossy" or "aggressive."
• Girls are perfectionists and not risk taking; boys are the other way.

 WHAT NONSENSE?          
 TIMES HAVE CHANGED!  

How to help development of Girls

1. Encourage, have high expectations, praise, criticize, and set limits.

2 Emphasize intelligence, hard work, independence, sensitivity, and perseverance in girls

3. De-emphasize the importance of appearance. Relationships that are appearance-based fade as may pretty appearances. Relationships based on shared interests and values have much more potential for depth.

4. Set as high expectations for girls as for boys.

5. Teach girls to compete. Encourage to win. Winning builds confidence and losing builds character.

6. Don't pressure girls fit in socially during adolescence. Many girls feel different during adolescence. Help them to feel comfortable with their differences and redirect their energies toward positive activities like music, drama, debate, science, sports, or religious activities.

7. Encourage girls to read stories about successful women. Help girls to be comfortable with math from preschool and teach spatial skills through puzzles, games, and building activities.

8. Make girls travel with whole family and encourage independent trips with school groups. Travel provides a spirit of adventure, enrichment, family bonding, and self-confidence.

9. Listen to girls when ever they need it. You can discover them better to help them.

10. Accept girls view points of society. Don't just throw away their ideas which can be crystals one day.

Girl Issues in Society

Why Girls have lots of pressure from people around them?

Why parents, teachers, boys give girls lot of negative messages?

Why are they telling that girls can’t do certain things?

Why do they ask girls to look and behave in certain ways?

Is it just because they're girls?


Time's Have Changed!
For me it's nonsense,
because I believe Girls and boys are equal. 
Girl should have equal opportunities.
Girl should have equal freedom.
Like everyone else ....
Girls can do anything. 
Girls can become anything they try.

We need to help girls to discover their full potential. 
That's final... 

It is very important for us to create gender-balanced society. To do that, everyone must play a role in helping girls reach their leadership potential. Because when girls succeed, so does society.

• Read Girls Stories
• Take the Girl quiz
  
  

Cyber bullying
This is a form of relational aggression happening online and through text messages. Girls use this indirect yet emotional form of aggression than boys. We need laws to protect children's physical, mental, and emotional health and safety, as well as their social, emotional, and character development. Therefore everyone need to stand up for girls' safety online.

Read Because I am a Girl Blog



What are the girl problems we need to address?
61% of the girls are nor well aware about leadership or say that it's not important to them. Negative influences around, including peer pressure to not stand out, lack of mentors, unhealthy images in the media about beauty, and bullying.


The cycle of discouragement of girls begin in primary schools and it goes on to have negative impact on our society long term.


We can create a better world by empowering girls. 


High-paying science, technology, engineering, and math jobs provide a financial future for girls. At 4th grade  91% of girls good in Math. By 12th grade, only 40% of girls would continue math. There for women account for less than 15% in engineering, computer science, and physics. Get girls to Study Math, ICT and Physics more.


GET GIRLS TO BECOME TECHIES
It is the right answer


Relational aggression
This is behavior that harm others by damaging, threatening, or manipulating a girls relationship with peers or by injuring a peer's feeling of social acceptance of the girl. They use rumors, gossiping, encouraging others to reject or exclude another, taunting and teasing, name calling, and other forms of social isolation.


Some use technology and social networks to treat girls cruelly.
38% of girls worry about their emotional safety when spending time with their peers and friends. Cyber bullying is a major issue. 85% have been cyberbullied at least once. We need to protect the physical and emotional security of girls, so that they can achieve their full potential.


Preventing Cyber bullying and Aggression of girls
Girls get emotional damage from peer pressure, aggression, and the mean-girl culture of bullying in schools, classes and online now. Bullying comes in many forms like shunning, taunting, spreading rumors, and betraying a confidence, both online and offline. Teachers and parents tend to disregard these behaviors as a “part of growing up,” but the negatice impact on girls is severe.


Here’s how:


1. Recognize the behaviors exhibited by bullied victims. Victims usually keep quite, so it’s vital to spot the warning signs of becoming secretive, sullen, moody, anxious, depressed, angry, or sad, Poor academic performance, Eating disorders ...


2. Build confidence among girls so that they can change the bullying culture. When someone is bullied, speak up


3. Say no rumors by not spreading them and standing up for the victim
4. Telling an adult, or ask victim to tell an adult.


5. Setting a good example by showing respect and kindness towards girls around you.


Every student deserves to learn in a safe, supportive environment. Unfortunately, many girls fear being teased, and bullied in school. To ensure that every girl can reach her full potential, we need to combat bullying, Relational aggression, especially cyberbullying-that uniquely affects girls.

Rain Water Harvesting - Short Film & Animation

Rain Water Harvesting Basics


How a biosand filter works - Animation



SAVE WATER - 3D Animation


More
http://www.kandy-youth.org/p/training.html

St.Sylvester's Beat 65-05 C.W.W Kannangara MV....

29 Ways to Stay Creative from Japanese Graphics Firm TO-FU

Urban Shelters - Everyone needs a home

Sense of place characterizes authentic human attachment and belonging to a place. This media piece was done for Adobe Youth Voices Training as an AYV educator. Location Colombo Sri Lanka. June 16 2012.

YES~City of Youth : Presentation to Kandy Mayor

YES~City of Youth : Presentation to Kandy Mayor Part I YES~City of Youth : Presentation to Kandy Mayor Part II

YES~City of Youth : Knowledge City Initiative begins at DS Library

A knowledge Society is a society that is nurtured by
its diversity and its capacities. (UNESCO)

YES~City of Youth team training DS Library Staff on internet, email and social networks
for the sharing of knowledge for city development. The Knowledge City initiative of YES~City of Youth Project aims to bridge the knowledge gap between City Governance, Business Community, Youth and Public by creating technologies and communication supported platform for information, collaboration and action for sustainable city development.  

"Every society has its own knowledge assets. It is therefore necessary to work towards connecting the forms of knowledge that societies already possess and the new forms of development, acquisition and spread of knowledge valued by the knowledge economy model."  - UNESCO

"The 3rd Industrial revolution happening in 21st century advances new technologies and globalization. The resulting Knowledge econolmy has placed the cognitive resources at the center of human activity and Social Dynamics." - UNESCO

What is needed to be done?

The education of critical thinking is highly important in building a real knowledge societies. A knowledge society must foster knowledge-sharing. Nobody  should be excluded from knowledge societies, where knowledge is a public good, available to each and every individual.

Young people are play a major role because they are among the first to use new technologies in everyday life. But older people also have an important part to play. They possess the experience an knowledge of the road to wisdom.

Towards Knowledge Socities - UNESCO REPORT

YES~City of Youth : Green Schools Initiative Begins

Green Schools also known as Eco-Schools

• It is a Students, teachers, parents and community lead environmental management system.
• It help improves schools environment
• It makes school more healthier
• It makes school more beautiful

Some examples of School Environmental Problems

• Garbage disposal
• Water Wastage
• Heat in Class Rooms
• Sounds from Vehicals
• CO2/Dark smokes entering school
• Land Slides/Erosion

Some examples of School Health Problems

• Dengue Fever from mosquitos
• Diareha from bacteria 
• Ashma, Bronchites from carbon smoke
• Headaches from heat

Solutions

• Environmental Education for students and teachers
• Engage students in greening their schools
• Re-think school lunch
• Re-think Water usage
• Saving  Energy / Use Sunlight
• School Environmental Re-Engineering
• Create Class Gardens
• Vertical Gardens/ Green Walls/ Living Walls
• Green roofing

Green façades - climbing plants with roots in the ground (passion fruit) uses cable and rope wire

Living walls - combined system plastic containers, geotextiles, irrigation systems and a growing medium (ferns, low shrubs, perennial flowers and edible plants.)

Environmental benefits of green walls
sound insulation
filter air particulates to improve air quality
reduce heat creating echo islands
reduce internal temperature (external shading)
micro climates to alter the climate of a city
storm water absorbing from rainfall/moisture
creates natural animal habitat
beautiful & pleasing

Environmental benefits of green roofing

• Reduce heat inside classrooms
• Reduce cooling in winter
• reduce the average temperatures
• Natural Habitat Creation urban wilderness
• Filter pollutants and carbon dioxide out of the air insulate a building for sound;
  (soil helps to block lower frequencies and the plants block higher frequencies)
• Increase agricultural space
• water is stored by the substrate and then taken up by the plants from where it is returned to the atmosphere 
• through transpiration and evaporation