We have the answer to solve youth problems in the UK

Aug. 16, 2011 - PRLog -- It is time to provide an important part of the problem solving puzzle. - Life Skills for Children

I am perplexed at the amount of different excuses being thrown into the air as the reason to trigger such destructive behaviour.

Of course there are many reasons for our society to decline to such a low level of social order that we all have to witness such ugly scenes. Previous Government policies, cultural integration, poor education are all very much apart of the problem mountain.
The truth is many of the core principles that made our country great have either disappeared completely or have been so badly diluted in an attempt to appease the growing diverse population that we have lost our way.

Amongst my friends and colleagues are individuals of all colours, religious beliefs, and economical backgrounds. They by in large are all decent human beings who are all equally appalled by the scenes witnessed across the media in the past week.

The answer is EDUCATION.

So much enthuses has been placed upon literacy and numeracy that we have forgotten the importance of providing young people with an education in social responsibility, respect, positive thinking, presentation skills and professional communication skills.
Another problem within the education industry is that so many of the teachers do not have the required skills to command respect and teach.

Teachers will argue that Government policies have made there job virtually impossible to do, however I meet teachers all of the time that have the right personality and skill set to overcome the issues young people bring to the classroom and therefore stroll through each day developing positive relationships with the people they are teaching.

Several years ago I laid down the blueprints of a course for young people to learn some of these core values and at the same time experience some simple and effective ways to increase their personal safety with the objective of reducing the negative effects of bullying.

This course has now been successfully delivered to hundreds of young people from a wide spectrum of social and economical backgrounds.

The course content includes:
Understanding the affects of anti-social behaviour
The destructive qualities of our personalities
Identifying the reasons for my actions - All talk and NO action
Physical Team building - Ability to work within a team environment
Positive qualities of your personality
Life Skills training – Take away the excuses of feeling unsafe
No excuse is big enough
Goal Setting for the future
Positive Key skills training
Developing a positive Life plan
Communication Skills
Problem solving Skills

Within its pilot phase I together with MAMAA (Mothers against Murder & Aggression) sat in front of ministers including Beverley Hughes, Tony McNulty and Vernon Coaker to discuss a preventative measures educational course that was and is continuing to make a real difference. Of course like most MP’s they are very good at talking and very little else.

To make the required positive changes to our society with have to appreciate that we are dealing with two distinct groups of people.

- Young people that are good law abiding citizens
- Young people that have lost there way

We have to stop the rotten element of our society and yet at the same time provide a preventative measures approach to the rest of the young community so that we can once again take control and know that the next generation will be educated in some of the core values that this country was once known by.

Life Skills for Children provide a boot camp style educational experience for those young people that have lost there way. This experience is a direct and very effective education in which a strong set of basic messages are presented to young people.

A softer, friendlier approach is deployed to young people that do not come onto the radar of becoming a nuisance to society. The theory is “To keep good kids good”

Life Skills for Children has even developed and deployed courses for teachers and parents on how to educate, control and build positive relationships with young people.
The Life Skills for Children approach to solving this problem is simple and with the right support can start the process of positive change quickly.

The question is, can we rely on the Government to make the required decisions to support such a basic reform in education. Of course we can’t. Remember most of them just talk and no more.

I believe the power of positive change lies in the hands of the media. The riots clearly demonstrated that young people use every aspect of the media to communicate and therefore we should use the media to educate.

With over 20 years experience developing and deploying training courses like Life Skills for Children, I have created a unique train the trainer system which could role out Nationwide over just a few weeks and months.

I have the material to make the required changes and I am calling upon the media to assist by working with me to produce some powerful educational media to provide parents, teachers and young people themselves to learn and grow.

Prevention is better than CURE

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Life Skills for Children provide educational programmes for Children aged 5-16 years in social responsibility, knife awareness, personal safety and communication skills. Taught within Schools, Sports Groups and Social Clubs. DVD tuition for Worldwide.