On Friday, May 25th, the youth at Ocean View
Methodist and their youth leader, Chevonne hosted a family night for the youth
and their parents. There was a great turn-out! All of the youth girls were
there and almost all of their parents or families were there. It was a fun
night of games & great discussion. Sarah arranged for Nathan to come speak
at the event. Nathan works for an organization in South Africa called Living
Hope. This is a place that helps HIV/AIDS patients get the treatment and
rehabilitation that they need. Nathan spoke to the parents about communication
with their children and how it can make all the difference. He started out with
a game like charades where he chose a mother, a father, a youth, and another
person to come to the front and act out a movie or television show for the
audience to try and guess. It was funny to watch the players try so hard to act
out their show or movie! This was kind of an “ice-breaker” game and then Nathan
gave his talk. He got suggestions from the audience about what parenting means
to them. On a piece of paper, the audience came up with things like: teaching,
responsibility, respect, being a role model, influencing, caring, nurturing,
and many others. Nathan spoke about how body language is key and makes up about
55% of your communication with others. A parent could be saying one thing, but
if their body language suggests another, then the child will probably not take
what they say seriously. It is hard to communicate effectively if the parent is
not making eye contact with their child. Nathan did a great job of conveying
his message to the parents and youth. He ended the event with 2 other games to
give examples on why communication is so important. Afterwards, everyone had
refreshments and got to have some nice time of fellowship with one another.
Family night was a success and I believe everyone benefitted from Nathan’s talk
and from the activities.
Love & God bless,
Amanda Maddox
No comments:
Post a Comment