study, study, study October 30, 2006

Most of my spare time at the moment is spent studying. I have a rather large pile of books and other things to read! The material that has been more interesting this weekend has been on observing and recording our work as youth workers. It’s not something I’ve done on a regular basis. That doesn’t mean I didn’t reflect and evaluate, I just didn’t write it down. A few weeks ago I started to record each session, but at the moment I’m not seeing the benefits. The course is helping me to think through why and how we record, and hopefully more of my recordings will become useful! If anyone has a format that they find useful for recording youth sessions, I’d be interested in having a look at it.

Today’s observation – why do we put pens in mugs on desks? And why do we have way more pens than we ever use in them?!

The issue of discipline October 23, 2006

On Friday night, I felt very guilty for being so mean to my 11-14s club. The beginning of half term meant that they were all a bit manic, and running the activities we had planned was becoming a problem with all their chattering! So I decided to punish the whole group by not allowing them tuck. This was not within the set of rules we had agreed a week earlier, and so some of them were not very pleased! On reflection, I think next time I would do something different (including anticipating the manic behaviour the beginning of a holiday brings.)
But it has made me ask the question – how can we discipline and yet still build relationships at the same time? I think the answer lies somewhere within agreeing to a set of rules and sticking to them. By introducing a new rule last week without consultation, I have not gained any friends! I hate feeling like a policeman, and making our club feel like school. When I spend an evening telling young people what to do, I’m not building relationships with them, well not in the sense that I want to. I find myself asking even bigger questions like – should the format of our club change? All this thinking I’m doing about informal education for my course is great, but at the moment I have more questions than answers.
I’ll end my ramblings with one last thought – what level of behaviour do we expect of our young pepole, and do we have a right to enforce this?

scavenging in the rain October 23, 2006

Yesterday afternoon, I sat in Starbucks with one of my leaders while 12 young people ran around in the rain on a scavenger hunt. They had ten pictures to take and ten ‘get this’ items. It was a great afternoon, most photos being taken inside shopping centres! The competition was won over one item. One of the challenges was to buy as many items as you could for the sum total of £1. The ‘boys+2girls’ team (yes we should have come up with better team names) blew the ‘girls’ team out of the competition with 250 disposable gloves. The 20 points they lost for being late back had no impact against the 45 screws the girls managed to buy.
All in all a great social, that took very little work at all to plan! They want to do one in Central London next, a tour of the monopoly board has been suggested. I think I’ll wait till the summer though!

that funny feeling October 16, 2006

My first assignment is in the post!!!!!!! It feels rather strange, and I just hope I’ve done alright. Hubby even said it was interesting when he read it through for me! Got a week before my next mailing arrives with the next batch of work – I haven’t finished the last one yet!
I’ve had a good evening, with only one of the people I’ve tried to ring being out! It’s taken me three weeks and five or six tries to get through to one of them!
Haven’t a clue what I’m going to do for a day off tomorrow, Hubby has been away all weekend, and we’ve been so busy today, we haven’t had time to talk about it yet! I reckon a day out on the tandem would do us good, but taking my brother swimming might be a better use of our time. He’s driving my parents mad at home, and any pressure we can take off them the better.
Thankfully I have a good idea of what I’m doing for my quiet day this week. Depending on whether I have the car or not, it will be Edenbridge (by car) or Brighton (by train!). After a good chat with my soul friend this afternoon, I even know how I’m going to spend my time. This is always a plus, as otherwise I just waste the time. I need a focus in order to help me spend time with God. The focus this week will be on God’s love for me. Sounds obvious, but I want to explore the feelings I felt yesterday at the evening service. The words ‘embrace you, Jesus, embrace you’ were not words I wanted to sing. I wanted God to embrace me, to hold me, to place his hands on me. Rembrandts picture of the Prodigal Son came to mind, with the Father’s hands on the son. It’s all I could focus on all through the service. Our youth meeting afterwards focussed on the Father, Romans 8v15 sticking out like a sore thumb. I need to receive God’s love for me, here and now. I look forward to spending time with my Father, but there is also fear of him not meeting with me. But I know that it is much more likely that I will stop myself from receiving his love, rather than him not give it. Receiving love isn’t always easy.
BUT right now, I have a meeting to be getting along to!

a great week October 7, 2006

It has been a wonderful week. Monday, we visited some old friends  and met their newest addition to the family (he’s very cute at only 4 weeks old!) We then arrived at our hotel in the Peak District, and after dinner I managed about an hours study.
Tuesday and Wednesday both began with rides round resevoirs on the tandem. We spent the afternoons visiting Buxton and Chatsworth House.
Thursday saw the return of the rain big style and so we were glad to be going home. We arrived back home and within an hour I was out again to lead small group – which went well.
Friday was my first YMCA study day. The majority of the discussion was around ‘ what is an informal educator?’. I feel inspired and encouraged, though have lots more reading to do! Our Friday night youth group also went well, before I came home and collapsed into bed!
Today I’ve been doing lots of admin type tasks, and there’s a pile of study still to do!
Overall, I’ve had the break I needed, and feel refreshed. I might get round to posting some photos of the Peak District and maybe some thoughts in the next week.