Pre-teens/Teens were invited to sit in on an Adult/Parent free round table discussion of their everyday lives. Their thoughts, hopes, dreams, & fears of the here and now as well as for the future. Each child was presented with a dark blue cloud cut out to write down one 'dark cloud' moment they have either encountered in their own lives so far or have worries about encountering in the future. They would later attach this cloud on top of a poster board filled with glitter stars. I even shared with them one of my dark-cloud-turned-Shining-Star-Moments.
Then our pre-teens/teens opened up and talked a bit about their own dark-moments, ranging from people who stare, issues at school, to not being able to find a ramp to access a business. We discussed ways in which they had dealt with those moments as well as other ways to overcome those moments. Then were presented with a yellow star cut-out in which to write down ways in which they had or would possibly turn that 'dark-moment' into a Shining Star Moment!
Although I could not promise them a life lived in constant sunlight or even star-light for that fact, somewhere along the way there is bound to be a cloud that darkens your path...I did offer the following words of encouragement:
After each days end, we can rest assured that there will always be bright, twinkling stars in the sky, even on those darkest of nights when perhaps a dark cloud may block our view of them! I then removed the layer of poster board that they had attached their blue clouds on to reveal a board filled with pins (to wear) that said Reach for a Star (each had a golden star hanging from it with a sparkling rhinestone in the center) Each pin was accompanied by a note card that read: "Each star is filled with hopes, dreams, & goals you can achieve. All are waiting for you, But first, YOU must Believe!" Each child was ask to come forward, place their star on the board and take one of the pins. They also got to keep the ink pens they were writing with, in-scripted with, "Dreams Do Come True"
This was my first time doing a workshop such as this and of course it didn't all go exactly as planned but I feel that what the kids walked & 'rolled' away with was a positive outlook & smiles on their faces!!
Theresa & Jeroen were also there helping me out and offering their own personal dark-moments, words of wisdom & possible ways of turning each into a shining-star-moment!! Thank You so much you two for Everything!!