Wow, I have had the most amazing 2 days!

farmgirl · 10-25-2007

The past two days I have participated in a program called "Get Real". Tuesday it was with Junior high kids, yesterday with the high school kids. It was amazing!!! It is a program out of Calgary that comes to the schools and teaches kids how to have empathy for others and that we all have "junk" in our lives and how to stand up for ourselves. There is a program in the US too, was talked about on Oprah one day, but I can't remember what it is called.
They have this one excercise called "cross the line". It is the most emotional 40 minutes I have ever lived thru. They have all the participants stand behind a line in the gym (we had about 125 people). The leader says things like "cross the line if you have ever said something hurtful to someone else". Then whoever falls into that category crosses the line, walks to the other side of the gym, faces those left behind the line and then returns. There are at least 30-40 categories, some very touchy. One that really upset the boys/men was "girls cross the line if you have ever felt you were not pretty enough". 100% crossed the line. The boys all gave us the love sign. It was very moving. Hard ones for me to watch were "cross the line if you have ever been made to do something sexual that you didn't want to do" or "cross the line if you ever worried about where you were going to stay at night". The amazing thing was that the room was silent except for alot of sobbing. The kids and adults really were honest and showed their inner layers. My son, whom I dragged there, came home really upset that some of his friends were dealing with things that he had no idea about. It really made him think about things that he has said and done to some of the kids and made him very empathetic towards some kids that he thought were different. Sadly, the kids that really needed to be there weren't although at the end of the day, the adults at our debriefing felt that the day was maybe more genuine without them and that maybe these kids would not have opened up with them there and today these kids can go to school with the tools to deal with those kids. Hopefully we'll have alot more positive energy at our school and things will change for the better. It was a really awesome day and if any of you ever get the chance to participate in one, I highly recommend it or if any of you have already, I would love to know if there has been any changes in your schools from it. One good sign we all felt was that at the end of the day the kids didn't bolt from the gym, they actually had to be kicked out!! Shows they were comfortable and enjoyed the day. I actually talked to alot of them that told me they didn't want to go, but were so glad they had.

NorthMinnesota · 10-25-2007

Wow! Sounds like it was awesome! Hope it has a lasting positive effect!

hrlydavison · 10-25-2007

Was there a "Cross the line if you ever stole someones Lunch from their Locker"?

raquelle261 · 10-25-2007

Sounds a brilliant initiative - for everyone involved. Nice one!

farmgirl · 10-25-2007

I hope so to. They are hoping the schools do some follow up to keep the "Get Real" slogan in the kids faces as a reminder.
But, you know, if it helps one kids out, it is worth every penny! Sadly I learned that these poor kids are dealing with way more then they need to at their age. Most are not allowed to be kids and that is so sad! It makes it even harder to imagine when we live in such a small town and we think we are so sheltered from all the bad things. Obviously after the last few days I am learning that we are no different then anyone else and shit happens here to, it is just hidden really well! The biggest shocker that we have alot of kids that have had a 24 hour period with no food to eat!!
By the way, I still don't believe it was these poor kids that are stealing the lunches. I did talk to the vice principal yesterday and they have a pretty good idea who it is, it is happening daily, but they just can't catch the little buggers. The only solution for now is to put a lock on the lockers to keep them out.

farmgirl · 10-25-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by hrlydavison

Was there a "Cross the line if you ever stole someones Lunch from their Locker"?

No!! The little buggers weren't there. I had planned to sit in their group for discussion so my time could be used for a chat about something to get them.

maestranba · 10-25-2007

We had a similar all-day program at our school a couple of years ago called "names can really hurt us". It was amazing how many kids are carrying baggage that we would never imagine. There was a lot of crying and apologizing going on that day. I think it helped the kids and it would be nice if we did it again for the younger kids.

farmgirl · 10-25-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by maestranba

We had a similar all-day program at our school a couple of years ago called "names can really hurt us". It was amazing how many kids are carrying baggage that we would never imagine. There was a lot of crying and apologizing going on that day. I think it helped the kids and it would be nice if we did it again for the younger kids.

I know, my heart literally broke. I wanted to go and hug them all. I agree, it is never too young to start working with them. We had the appologizing too. It was very moving, some kids even named their victims, was very powerful. Lots of hugs and tears. They did tell the kids that for every bad thing you say to someone it takes 10 positive things to counter act that one thing. One very positive thing I witnessed already is that we have a teacher in our junior high who is a real jerk on the outside. He coaches all the sports and is such a bad sport and just not there for the kids. Last night at their volleyball game he was cheering for the girls and actually coached the boys instead of just sitting there with his head between his hands frowning. The kids even noticed and commented on it. So, it must have gotten to him, so that is positive and for the kids to see it even more so!!

10-25-2007	#1 (permalink)
farmgirl reposado Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Alberta, Canada Posts: 1,475	Wow, I have had the most amazing 2 days! The past two days I have participated in a program called "Get Real". Tuesday it was with Junior high kids, yesterday with the high school kids. It was amazing!!! It is a program out of Calgary that comes to the schools and teaches kids how to have empathy for others and that we all have "junk" in our lives and how to stand up for ourselves. There is a program in the US too, was talked about on Oprah one day, but I can't remember what it is called. They have this one excercise called "cross the line". It is the most emotional 40 minutes I have ever lived thru. They have all the participants stand behind a line in the gym (we had about 125 people). The leader says things like "cross the line if you have ever said something hurtful to someone else". Then whoever falls into that category crosses the line, walks to the other side of the gym, faces those left behind the line and then returns. There are at least 30-40 categories, some very touchy. One that really upset the boys/men was "girls cross the line if you have ever felt you were not pretty enough". 100% crossed the line. The boys all gave us the love sign. It was very moving. Hard ones for me to watch were "cross the line if you have ever been made to do something sexual that you didn't want to do" or "cross the line if you ever worried about where you were going to stay at night". The amazing thing was that the room was silent except for alot of sobbing. The kids and adults really were honest and showed their inner layers. My son, whom I dragged there, came home really upset that some of his friends were dealing with things that he had no idea about. It really made him think about things that he has said and done to some of the kids and made him very empathetic towards some kids that he thought were different. Sadly, the kids that really needed to be there weren't although at the end of the day, the adults at our debriefing felt that the day was maybe more genuine without them and that maybe these kids would not have opened up with them there and today these kids can go to school with the tools to deal with those kids. Hopefully we'll have alot more positive energy at our school and things will change for the better. It was a really awesome day and if any of you ever get the chance to participate in one, I highly recommend it or if any of you have already, I would love to know if there has been any changes in your schools from it. One good sign we all felt was that at the end of the day the kids didn't bolt from the gym, they actually had to be kicked out!! Shows they were comfortable and enjoyed the day. I actually talked to alot of them that told me they didn't want to go, but were so glad they had.

10-25-2007	#2 (permalink)
NorthMinnesota añejo Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Minnesota Posts: 5,606	Wow! Sounds like it was awesome! Hope it has a lasting positive effect!

10-25-2007	#3 (permalink)
hrlydavison life=playa Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Middle of a cornfield in Illinois Posts: 545	Was there a "Cross the line if you ever stole someones Lunch from their Locker"?

10-25-2007	#4 (permalink)
raquelle261 añejo Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: between the devil and the deep blue sea Posts: 2,094	Sounds a brilliant initiative - for everyone involved. Nice one!

10-25-2007	#5 (permalink)
farmgirl reposado Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Alberta, Canada Posts: 1,475	I hope so to. They are hoping the schools do some follow up to keep the "Get Real" slogan in the kids faces as a reminder. But, you know, if it helps one kids out, it is worth every penny! Sadly I learned that these poor kids are dealing with way more then they need to at their age. Most are not allowed to be kids and that is so sad! It makes it even harder to imagine when we live in such a small town and we think we are so sheltered from all the bad things. Obviously after the last few days I am learning that we are no different then anyone else and shit happens here to, it is just hidden really well! The biggest shocker that we have alot of kids that have had a 24 hour period with no food to eat!! By the way, I still don't believe it was these poor kids that are stealing the lunches. I did talk to the vice principal yesterday and they have a pretty good idea who it is, it is happening daily, but they just can't catch the little buggers. The only solution for now is to put a lock on the lockers to keep them out.

10-25-2007	#7 (permalink)
maestranba añejo Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Connecticut Posts: 4,102	We had a similar all-day program at our school a couple of years ago called "names can really hurt us". It was amazing how many kids are carrying baggage that we would never imagine. There was a lot of crying and apologizing going on that day. I think it helped the kids and it would be nice if we did it again for the younger kids.

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