Children face a lot of challenges in the modern world and a new workshop aims to give adults the tools to keep children’s self-worth strong.
The workshop is hosted by Edmonton’s Laurie Davis. It outlines 10 strategies to support youth from becoming the victims of bullies, to help them be more articulate, and to support them in their dreams and goals. Davis said that the workshop is geared towards parents, teachers, athletic coaches, youth workers and anyone else who works with children.
“This is a specific program that is designed for anyone who has kids in their care,” Davis said. “It’s my approach to anti-bullying. I don’t like the word bullying or anti-anything, but it gives them some strategies to support the kids. Bullies don’t really prey on confident children, they prey on children that they know are insecure or who lack self-esteem. If we can bolster up the esteem of our children that reduces their risk of being bullied actually.”
Davis’ workshop, 10 Ways To Build Confident Children, will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Mar. 30 at the Temple Gardens Mineral Hotel & Spa.
While Davis notes that this “isn’t a parenting program, this is about knowing about kids and knowing about self-worth,” she does feel that attendees need to realize that the current reality for children is vastly different than the world many of them grew up in.
“I really think that we parent the way we were parented and we teach the way we were taught,” Davis said. “We need to change some of those cycles. It’s a totally different world than it was 20 years ago, 10 years ago, five years ago. A lot of teachers and parents are stuck in those mentoring roles. It’s really to help people step out of the box and try some things that are different and that actually support the kids.”
Davis said that while the focus is on developing tools for children, she finds that the adults that attend also learn tools for developing their own self-worth.
“In the process of the workshop, even though the focus is on 10 ways to build confident children, we cannot pass on to our children what we do not have in place for ourselves. If I don’t have any confidence, chances are my kids don’t either,” she said. “The day of the workshop, that’s one of the outcomes, people realize ‘wow, maybe I need to do some work on me.’”
Davis retired from being a school teacher after 15 years and opened her own private training company 34 years ago.
“I’ve been doing this longer than most people have been alive,” she said.
Davis said she learned so much during her times as a teacher, she felt she saw some things missing within the school system. She feels that children are more vulnerable now that they were a number of years ago and for a variety of reasons.
“I taught many, many years ago and we would have the odd fight on the playground, but certainly with social media, there are more ways for kids to be bullied,” Davis said. “It’s not just about physically being bullied on the playground. They could have a teacher bullying them or a parent even, bullying them, exercising what they feel is their authority. Now the divorce rate is higher and children are living blended families and often-times that stepmom or stepdad, who is not on board, can become the bully without the birth parents even knowing about it. There are many more opportunities now to bully than before.”
The early bird price for the workshop is $99 before Mar. 22 and $149 afterwards. Lunch and a workbook will be provided. For more information visit her website at: www.selfworththemissinglink.com. Laurie can be contacted directly to register at 780-898-5249.
