We posted this article on our Facebook page a few weeks back, and it really deserves some more attention. When Aman Narula, Positive Ally’s founder, started formulating an afterschool program, he was asking…
Are students really, truly prepared with the life skills they need to make it when they graduate high school? And if they’re not (and the existence of an article like this one implies that some aren’t), what could an afterschool program do about that? How could an afterschool program help parents raise children with the necessary life skills to go off to college and beyond?
As we read through the list in that article, we saw so many of the life skills that we teach and encourage in our programming. Granted, our students aren’t 18, so they’re not yet “running a household,” but when our 4th and 5th graders help prepare and serve snacks at the beginning of the day, we think that counts. It counts because it teaches them how to look after themselves and others.
Numbers 3 and 5 in the article are especially relevant to the Positive Ally pillars. Self-management and coping skills are highlighted everyday at PA because they inform so much of the rest of life and the other life skills on this list. With help, young students can learn these skills and PA is built around teaching them.