Understanding and Protecting Youth

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Understanding and Protecting Youth
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BSA Mission Statement
The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to
prepare young people to make ethical choices over
their lifetimes by instilling in them the values
of the Scout Oath and Law.
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What is the purpose of Venturing?

• High adventure
• Leadership skills
• Citizenship
• Community service
• Social experiences
• Fitness

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Understanding Young Adults

• The first things we notice about young people
• Size
• Behavior
• Teenagers deal with opposing emotions
• They fear and crave independence.
• They face a constant struggle for power and
  independence.
  
• They want to be unique, but are affected by peer
  pressure.

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Normal Adolescent Development

• Movement towards interdependence
• Future interests and cognitive changes
• Sexuality
• Morals, values, and Self-direction

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Middle School and Early High School Years
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Movement towards Independence

• Struggle with sense of identity
• Feel awkward or strange about ones self ones
  body
  
• Focus on self, alternating between high
  expectations and poor self-concept
  
• Interests and clothing style influenced by peer
  group
  
• Moodiness
• Improved ability to use speech to express ones
  self
  
• Realization that parents are not perfect
• Less overt affection shown to parents, with
  occasional rudeness
  
• Complaints that parents interfere with
  independence

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Future Interests and Cognitive Changes

• Mostly interested in present, limited thoughts of
  future
  
• Intellectual interests expand
• Greater ability to do work

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Sexuality

• Display shyness, blushing modesty
• Increased interest in the opposite sex are they
  attractive?
  
• Frequently changing relationships
• Worries about being normal
• Develop ideals and select role models
• Experiment with sex and drugs

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Morals, Values, and Self-Direction

• Rules and limit testing
• Develop ideals and select role models
• Experiment with sex and drugs
• Capacity for abstract thought

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Later High School Years and Beyond
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Movement towards Independence

• Firmer sense of identity
• Ability to think ideas through
• Increased emotional stability
• Increase concern for others
• Increased self-reliance
• Peer relationships remain important
• Work habits more defined
• Increased concern for the future
• Feelings of love and passion
• Development of more serious relationships
• Greater capacity for setting goals
• Interest in moral reasoning

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Future Interests and Cognitive Changes

• Work habits more defined
• Increased concern for the future
• Feelings of love and passion
• Development of more serious relationships
• Greater capacity for setting goals
• Interest in moral reasoning

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Sexuality

• Feelings of love and passion
• Development of more serious relationships
• Firmer sense of sexual identity
• Greater capacity for setting goals
• Interest in moral reasoning

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Morals, Values, and Self-Direction

• Greater capacity for setting goals
• Interest in moral reasoning
• Capacity to use insight
• Social and cultural traditions regain some of
  their previous importance
  

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Issues Facing Todays Teens

• Concern
• Getting good grades
• Getting a good job
• Getting along with parents
• Not fitting in
• Nuclear war
• Getting AIDS/STD
• Parents relationships with each other
• Hunger and poverty
• Family finances
• Pregnancy
• Pressured into doing drugs

• of Teens worried
• 97.0
• 82.2
• 79.0
• 76.2
• 67.4
• 64.8
• 62.2
• 62.0
• 60.2
• 56.4
• 54.4

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Leadership Styles for Advisors

• Be a mentor
• Be a coach
• Walk your talk
• Be understanding of the teenage years and their
  search for autonomy
  
• Be able to relate
• Show mutual respect as a team member
• Develop and demonstrate conflict management skills

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Safety

• Guide to Safe Scouting
• Video - Youth Protection Guidelines
• Training for Adult Venturing Leaders
• Personal Safety Awareness
• Venturer driving qualifications
• 6 months driving experience as a licensed driver
  (learners permit time does not count)
  
• No record of accidents or moving violations
• Parental permission granted to leader, driver and
  riders