Positive youth development by Jutta
Dotterweich was a very informing presentation. I learned a lot about youth and
how youth development is changing in today’s world. I related the power point
to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs because it describes the basic needs of a person
and it is very difficult for someone to succeed without these basic needs. Kids
who struggle with these basic needs have to be very Resilient in order to succeed. Resilience is overcoming your
hardships in order to be successful. Based on a study of over 700 people
resilient people have specific traits individual and environmental. Some
individual traits are social competence, independence, sense of purpose, and
belief in a bright future. Some
environmental traits are caring relationships, high expectations, and
opportunities for participation. As a person in the field of youth development
I believe it is our job to provide those environmental traits to anyone who may
need them. This means taking an interest in a young persons life, making them
feel like they matter. Hold them to high standards and giving them every
opportunity succeed and feel empowered.
The
resilience of some people is just amazing I have a cousin who is very
resilient. He had very absent parents and brothers and sisters who weren’t
exactly good role models. He was
put into foster care and his foster parents gave him a caring environment, made
him feel like he was important and gave him opportunity to succeed and feel
empowered. Today he is a great kid and goes to college at URI. It is amazing to see the difference in direction that he went
compared to his other three siblings. All because he had a stable caring person
in his life. As a youth development professional this is the power we have and
we can make a big difference with a small gesture.