The process of acquiring a volunteer position at the Boys and Girls Club began online through their website, as they have a volunteer application form which asks the potential volunteer questions about themselves as well as an attached resume. After this process was done, I contacted a friend of mine and asked if he could aid me in scheduling a meeting with the Senior Youth Worker in charge of volunteering. The meeting with the Senior Youth Worker went well as I was able to get a sense of the expectations and duties I’ll be performing throughout my time as a volunteer. After discussing the scheduling for shifts, I was given the opportunity to begin shifts at Ridgemont High School. The main activities I took part during the programming hours …show more content…
However, the couple challenges I faced provided me with opportunities to ask questions and learn from the experienced Youth Workers. An issue I faced early on was building a bond with the youth within a short period of time. Going into the volunteering experience, I had the assumption that I would have a group of 4-5 youth who I would be able to help, speak to and bond with over my time. However, this was not the case as I found myself interacting with several youth over a short period of time, which hindered my opportunity to ask questions which were unrelated to their academics per se. After speaking to the staff regarding this idea of mine, they told me that even they find it hard sometimes to engage with a couple youth on a deeper level even though they may see them every day of programming. The solution was simply a change of mindset on my part, and I learned to value the time I had with each youth. A second problem I faced was during the gym programs when I was officiating, as some youth tended to be more competitive with others when in comes to playing the games. As a referee, at first I found it quite shocking how serious some youth took the games more than others, which meant that any call that did not go their way in the game would result in a lash out at the referee. When I spoke to the gym staff about this issue, he told me that it’s a problem …show more content…
Firstly, finding ways to regain energy is essential. During my first couple shifts, I found myself moving from table to table, youth to youth in order to get to everyone who needed assistance. I would not take any breaks and I by the time the gym program ended, I felt exhausted. I learned that youth work is a team effort, and sometimes asking for a short break is important in order to regain focus and energy to keep going for the rest of the shift. Secondly, patience when working with youth is key. Whether it was during the homework club program or the gym program, some youth require more patience than others when it comes to understanding concepts in their homework, or following instructions when organizing the sports games. I solution to this is to make sure you do not give up on the youth, and that you do not let your emotions get the best of you. All youth are different and sometimes they do not intentionally fail to understand something the first time you address it to them. Lastly, using humour and displaying light-heartedness opens up youth to conversation more easily. I noticed that when the youth first meet someone they tend to be more reserved for the most part, however over time and effort they will become more comfortable with you and relate to you more. When I tried using humour, I noticed that the youth generally became more engaged in the
When there is humor involved people seem to enjoy things way better, the reason for this is that people will
The amount of unnecessary behavior by parents at youth sporting events is increasing rapidly and is ruining the kid's experiences and their passion for the sports. Parents in the United States are becoming more involved in their children's sports than the kids themselves. The reason that so many young American athletes are quitting at such an early age is because their parents are making the sports a joyless experience and are placing too much pressure on the kids to win and to be the best. Parents have become out of control at youth sports and it seems that the kids are showing more civility than the parents these days. Parents need to get back to teaching their kids that sports should be played for fun and not just for showing who's the best.
Humor, as a creative effort, has been respected throughout the world, I’m sure, since the beginning of spoken language. There is nothing in the world like conjuring up a joke or some other anecdote that sends a group of people off into a fit of laughter. In fact, throughout time, people have attempted to make humor at least some part of their professional career. Court jesters made the royalty of the castle laugh at his foolish behavior. Playwrights have included humor in their tragic works to provide some comedic relief from all of the terribly sad events. Today is no different. The sheer number of careers available for those interested in making people laugh for a living reflects our society’s great appreciation for novel humor. Comedians, book writers, columnists, actors, television and movie writers, cartoonists, and musicians all attempt to add some laughter to peoples’ lives on a daily basis.
This semester I have been volunteering at the Youth Detention Center (YDC). YDC is a youth center for those youth ages 13-18 that have committed crimes, from running away from home to cutting the hydraulic brake lines of their parent's car. When is is concluded that the youth can no longer be active members in their communities, they are sent to YDC. There are four different units: H is for the youth that are in court right now but cannot stay at home, E is the girls unit, G unit is for the boys who committed minor crimes and felonies, and F unit is for the boys who committed major crimes and felonies such as sexual assault and dealing drugs. What first drew me to YDC was the fact that an ex-boyfriend of mine almost went there in the eighth grade, and was a troubled kid just like them. I could see a little bit of him in each of the residents and by trying to help them it felt like I was helping him in some strange way. Being a nursing major also makes me think that I can just mother the world, so I wanted to work at a service learning site that made me feel like I was fulfilling my mothering goals.
It allows elders to maintain their social ties within the community and maintain the all important sense of self that many elders lose after retirement. The following examples from the case studies of Eddie, Bill and Alice show how the use of humor allows them to give them a sense of social identity within the community and maintain social participation that is essential for a succesful aging process. Loe writes
Every year there are a number of children who withdraw from participating in youth sports. While countless leave sports to pursue other interests, a significant number detest their experience in sport. From the intense practices to pressure-filled competitions, young athletes can feel a considerable amount of stress. If this stress remains for an extended period of time, children experience “burnout” and lose their desire to continue playing. There are two ways parents can avoid youth sports burnout for their children: making sure the children have a healthy balance in their lives and giving the children input into decisions. While sports require dedication in order to achieve a high level
In the literature, a healthy sense of humor has often been equated with mental stability and overall proficient social functioning (Malpass & Fitzgerald, 1959; Prerost, 1983). Beneficial uses for humor can be traced back...
Laughter is associated with positive affects and social appropriateness and is correlated most strongly with the perception of a contribution to health made by a laughter type. The data received from the surveys revealed an interesting pattern, according to the researchers. The results suggest that young adults, relative to the older participants, saw high-volume, less controlled laughter as more healthful. The older, but not younger, participants indicated that social appropriateness is an important attribute of health promoting laughter. Both groups indicated that positive emotion was an important attribute. In sum, the laughter types perceived as most beneficial by the older group can be described as gentler, kinder, and less active; preferences of the young adults are greater volume and movement. There have been many changes in the social norms governing types of humor and responses to humor that are acceptable. (The Journal of Psychology, Mahony, Burroughs, & Lippman pg. 179) Mora-Ripholl hypothesized that it is necessary to discriminate between variables of laughter, as many analyses of humor have used a humor stimulus, for example a comic movie, to determine the effect of "humor" on a health-related outcome, and others look categorically at the effects of laughter on these conclusions. Still others explore different ways to test sense of humor in an attack to analyze whether scoring higher on a sense-of-humor scale is associated with certain health outcomes. (Mora-Ripoll pg.
In compositions and conversations, humor indicates a state of entertainment or laughing that, during speech, can influence the outcome of the conversations persuasiveness. Humor can play a significant role in the outcome or intension of persuasion intended in a conversation. Information being exchanged between persons is influenced by the intended persuasion, as well as the possible level of humor within the intended subject. This, in turn, plays a significant role in the outcome of the persuasion, as humor can, sometimes, create influence on other’s decisions, or way of thinking about the intended subject. Persuading others to take your outlook on a subject can sometimes be greater influenced by the amount of humor within the persuasion.
Comedy and humor do more than entertain. They are intertwined into people’s everyday existence and are used to change the way people feel, think, and act. Therefore, humor allows people to approach sensitive matters, such as social relationships. Society is full of prejudices, which comedy helps combat in addition to stimulating the economy and local culture. Comedy represents a social function through which the comedian and audience can question and hold those in power to account.
For this reason, humor holds the capability to bring people together and lead to something, like change. Mary O’Hara writes “[comedy provides] a counterbalance to bigotry and prejudice” (O’Hara 106) to prove that humor can do more than make someone laugh, but to reinforce the truth. Humor is a natural human behavior that allows people to escape the mundane, laugh at themselves and also the world around them. O’Hara also writes that “comedy can have a profound impact on how we feel, and even how we act” (O’Hara 110). If humor can change the way we think and act, then it consequently has the ability to bring forth social
Community service is something that I have always engaged. In college, I worked with chemically dependent children as both a caretaker and a mentor. After I graduated, I taught at-risk children in a community youth outreach program. To remain involved and aware of the focus of my studies during my first year of law school, I volunteered at the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center teaching youth their basic legal rights. Essentially, we strove to empower kids by providing practical information about the legal system and to help them develop more favora...
youth sports [were] the one haven for good sportsmanship," says Darrell Burnett, a clinical child psychologist and youth sports psychologist. "Not anymore. It's not just a game anymore." With technology (etc) distracting our children with violence and so on, we cannot afford to ruin what sports may do for them. With sports being just one of the few things left that can contribute to success in life, education, and health, parents need not to put any sort of unnecessary pressure on their kids at such a young age, or any age for that matter, ever.
A positive aspect of using humour can be that a person can get
Those who use humor to its best advantage teach others by example. Instead of getting angry when something goes wrong, we should try to look for the humor in the situation. It eases tensions and keeps things in perspective. Humor can energize us when a task has become tedious. Humor can make even the worst of situations tolerable.