We’ve developed a great little exercise to quickly analyse your child’s community and to discover if it is a positive or negative influence. We may have a rough idea already but often spending a few minutes to write it down can give some insight into the big picture.
We are going to look at 4 different communities that are present in your child’s life. Try to write down each individual group associated with each community below:
School: Friends/Classes
Online: Facebook/social media
Home: Family/Siblings/Neighbours
Clubs: List any clubs (After school / extra curricular)
Answer each of the following 10 statements for each of your child’s communities, YES = 1 and NO = 0. Give each community a score for this. If you are unable to answer the question
Your child speaks highly of others in this community. YES/NO
This community provides your child with interesting, creative ideas which they share with you. YES/NO
This community enjoys physical activity together. YES/NO
This community has always been a positive influence. YES/NO
Your child has never been bullied in this community. YES/NO
After spending time with this community your child comes home inspired to achieve. YES/NO
Your child looks up to other members of this community and talks about them regularly. YES/NO
Your child is encouraged to help out at this community and lead others. YES/NO
Your child is constantly challenged in this community to achieve more. YES/NO
Your child is regularly rewarded for their successes in this community. YES/NO
Now, multiply the score you have for each community by 10 to have your percentage. This percentage represents the Community score for each of your child’s separate communities. A powerful, supportive and positive community will score between 70% and 100%.
A poor community will score between 50 to 70% and we’d suggest improving or in fact eliminating / reducing the amount of time your child spends in this community. A community score of under 50% needs a more immediate change as it’s likely to be doing harm.
Of course the data here is subjective and can only provide a rough guide to each individual community, but, we have found it to be a helpful tool for initially analysing the situation and it often helps to compare communities/clubs/groups in such a manor.
In our next blog we will discover what the real power a negative or positive community is for our children…
