The Big Brother Sister Match Program
Embracig Our Sons - Saving Mzansi (VISION 2030)
Mentoring Programs
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Physical and Mental Support
It is easy for parents to identify their child’s physical needs: nutritious food, warm clothes when it’s cold, bedtime at a reasonable hour. However, a child’s mental and emotional needs may not be as obvious. Good mental health allows children to think clearly, develop socially and learn new skills. Additionally, good friends and encouraging words from adults are all important for helping children develop self confidence, high self-esteem, and a healthy emotional outlook on life.
Basics for a child’s good mental health:
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Unconditional love from family
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Self-confidence and high self-esteem
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The opportunity to play with other children
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Encouraging teachers and supportive caretakers
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Safe and secure surroundings
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Appropriate guidance and discipline
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Social Support and Services
Social Support is a large and complex construct with many different aspects which contribute to the term. Research has displayed the critical role that social support serves in the lives of children and adolescents and it has consistently been linked to outcomes in many areas such as, social functioning and academic achievement. While social support is such a large construct, some researchers (Tardy, 1985) have broken it down into specific dimensions which include:
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Direction (is support given, or received)
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Disposition (availability of support- what support someone has access to or has used)
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Content (what type of support is received and who is giving the support)
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Evaluation (Is this person satisfied with the support received)
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Network (people in the individuals social network/group)
The types of support
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Emotional (love, trust, empathy)
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Informational (advice)
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Appraisal (offering evaluative feedback)
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Instrumental (Helping behaviors)
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Decision making and Behavioral Coaching
We Are Building a National Decision Education Movement
Our Decision Education Movement is dedicated to the belief that better decisions lead to better lives and a better society.
Our mission is to improve lives by empowering South African children with essential decision skills. In 2014, we began working with student Teachers to create engaging and winning programs that introduced decision skills to our learners / children across Soweto Informed by our success, we realized we had to do more.
For our Vision 2030, the movement for Decision Education is gathering education and industry leaders, researchers, policymakers, teachers, program providers, and parents from across the country to ensure Decision Education is part of every middle and high school learner’s learning experience.
We are building the field of Decision Education and creating a national movement that can, and will, make a difference in the lives of learners for generations to come.
What We Believe
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Better decisions lead to better lives and a better society.
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Individual boys and girls can improve their decision skills.
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Boys and Girl can and should learn decision skills.
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It is time to bring Decision Education into the classroom for every middle and high school student.
Become A Mentor
Our collective understanding of gender is evolving, and how we understand masculinity is evolving with it. With this guide, mentoring programs, practitioners, and mentors can reflect on their experiences, biases, and assumptions to more effectively leverage their strengths and the power of mentoring to support young people.
Mentoring, at its core, guarantees young people that there is someone who cares about them, assures them they are not alone in dealing with day-to-day challenges, and makes them feel like they matter. Research confirms that quality mentoring relationships have powerful positive effects on young people in a variety of personal, academic, and professional situations. Ultimately, mentoring connects a young person to personal growth and development, and social and economic opportunity. Yet one in three young people will grow up without this critical asset.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Have we collectively thought about how socializing Our Sons to suppress their natural and spontaneous reactions to pain is affecting their physical and mental health, decision making, behaviour, and happiness?
Are we embracing Our Sons when we socialize them to suppress their full range of emotions or are we encouraging them to burn down the global village?
We say we want to empower and guide boys. Further, we describe these souls as the “Next Generation of Leaders, Husbands, and Fathers”.
Do we want a future generation of leaders, husbands, and fathers who are walking time bombs because they have been socialized to suppress their emotions?
Or, do we want emotionally intelligent leaders, husbands, and fathers who engage in healthy expressions of their emotions?
We need to think about what we really want the future of our global village to look like because the future of the global village rests, in part, on how we how socialize Our Sons — today.
