Presented by Encouragement Speaker Derrick Hayes
-When adults are engaged – Diamond ring
-When youth are not engaged – Ring from School, Police Department, or Juvenile Detention “Come get your child”
When you get married you stand before witnesses and give your vows. A vow is a small word with a big responsibility. Since this is to uplift education we will use our vowels, AEIOU.
AEIOU is for Activities, Exercises, Ideas, and Optimism and Understanding.
School principals please share this with your staff and staff share this with your children.
Please say this Pledge:
I’m a parent, and I will use my vowels AEIOU to engage youth daily with Activities, Exercises, Ideas and Optimism to help our youth Understand they can be successful.
A is for Activities
During the summer boredom can set in when students don’t have anything to do and we don’t provide them with something else to do. Here is a list of 10 things that you can do with your children to help them stay engaged over the summer.
1. Art Projects
1. Begin a business
3. Create a puppet
4. Dog training
6. Fact Find
7. Go on a trip
8. Help the homeless
9. Inspire a poem
10. Journal writing
E is for Exercises
Here is an activity that you can do with youth to open them up to their purpose and possibilities. Answer the following questions by yourself and with them. These questions come from my ebook 1 WORD Is All It Takes.
2. What does your word inspire you to write?
Action Step: Each day for the next 21 days write down in a journal what your word inspires you to write.
I is for Ideas
Brainstorm with youth to see what they are good or great at. Help them develop their gifts and take advantage of opportunities in front of them. Turn what they like to do into something they can do forever. When you find out what they like to do brainstorm with them to see what type of business or organization they could start.
If they can think well encourage them to be a consultant. If they can draw well encourage them to be an artist or architect. If they can count money well encourage them to be an accountant or auditor. If they can make the law, instead of break the law encourage them to be a lawyer or judge.
O is for Optimism
A great way to be optimistic is to teach youth how to look for the positive instead of always looking for the negative. Positive interaction is important to keep youth engaged during school and throughout the summer months. Please watch this video “Engage Others With Optimism”
U is for Understanding
With our youth going to and from many events during school and in the summer we have to check in with them to make sure they are understanding what they are learning. Here are 3 simple questions to keep in mind to ask your kids.
1. Have you learned anything today?
2. What have you learned today?
3. Is there anything you didn’t quite understand or you would like to learn more about?
This summer in 2012 if we keep our vowels (AEIOU) and provide our children with Activities, Exercises, Ideas, and Optimism they will Understand that they can be successful.
Now you can book Derrick Hayes as your Back To School Speaker for meetings, conferences and events for the 2012-2013 school year.