Mentorship and coaching important for the young

Home Youth Corner Mentorship and coaching important for the young

Windhoek

Mentorship and coaching is very important to young people. Mentors have experience, wisdom and knowledge that can help a young person on his road to self-discovery. Mentors and coaches guide people to avoid mistakes and to make the right choices.

Among a list of mentors and coaches are firstly one’s parents, siblings, friends, teachers, pastors and community or national leaders.

As you grow older and begin to mature you should read the Bible for yourself, discuss it with your parents, friends and the like to learn lessons that you can obtain from it. The Bible possesses valuable information on how one can live a truly Christian life.

The most important lesson that the Bible offers is that God is love, light and faithful to those who earnestly seek Him. He will never abandon a faithful person and will take care of believers through storms, affliction, poverty and disease. God is never late, but always on time.

Therefore, one must have faith, hope and love to carry through one’s assignment as a Christian, as at the right time He will surely give the believer victory and blessings, in accordance with His will and wisdom.

Rely on God and seek the Kingdom of Heaven and its righteousness, then everything shall be given unto thee. God understands our anguish and struggles and will never let us down. Everyone, who provides favour, is under His power and He is the one who directs people’s steps to offer us assistance when all seem to be lost.

 Ideal parent to youth relationship involves:

Trust and faithfulness

Honesty

Communication

Respect

Love

Care

Forgiveness and reconciliation

Mentoring and coaching on morals and God’s Law

Obedience to parents and love and care of children.

Using leisure time effectively

Many young people complain that there are not enough recreation facilities. Perhaps recreation activities should be defined. The amount of time that one wants to spend on recreation should also be established.

The fact remains that one can only think of recreation if one has priorities, in this case your schoolwork. This is important so that a person should not end up spending more time on recreation than on what is necessary.

This argument is further evidenced in view of relatively poor exam results by Grade 10s and Grade 12s. To a certain degree, the issue of planning one’s time is something that needs to be addressed to establish whether the youth allocate enough time to their schoolwork or not. The more time you spend on your studies, the more it will reflect positively in your exam results.

Leisure time will also vary, depending on the national school calendar. During normal school days one will have leisure time after school to spend on your studies and house chores.

During weekends, one will have more time at one’s disposal to allocate to chores at home, fun and studies. During examinations, more time needs to be spent on studies and less time will be available for house chores and leisure. During holidays, more time will be spent on leisure and less on schoolwork, if at all such consideration is made.

Positive leisure activities

Going to church, reading the Bible and praying (at least 3 times a day) to get wisdom on the laws and purpose of God for mankind and to obey these and to advance them in the community, nationally and internationally, through discipleship evangelism, using the media, the internet and any other platform.

  1. Participating in Christian Drama and Christian Entertainment Programmes;
  2. Engaging in Church volunteer work such as preaching, cleaning the church and teaching the word of God etc,;
  3. Socialising and chilling with Christian friends and witnessing and evangelising to the unsaved;
  4. Singing in a gospel group and producing gospel music;
  5. Setting up and participating in youth clubs such as reading clubs, debating clubs, environmental awareness clubs, abstinence clubs, Christian clubs, etc.;
  6. Participating in community projects and business projects not in conflict with God’s Law;
  7. Enrolling in art classes: Drawing, Painting, Crafts and Music, Skills training, Vocational training,
  8. Mathematics Courses, Accounting Courses, Leadership Courses, Management Courses, Language Courses, Computer Courses, and engaging in reading and the development of one’s writing skills, presentation skills, vocational skills and professional skills etc.;
  9. Listening and watching constructive youth programmes on radio or television.
  10. Participating in non-violent sports;
  11. Participating in community activities, e.g. Helping orphans with their homework;
  12. Participating in environmental clean-up campaigns.

Negative leisure activities

  1. Engaging in alcohol and drug abuse and cigarette smoking;
  2. Engaging in sexual corruption and pre-marital sex;
  3. Watching pornography;
  4. Going to clubs and engaging and listening to worldly music
  5. Watching violent or anti-social television programmes and movies;
  6. Gambling;

Personal care

Hygiene is very important. One has to look after one’s body, because it is the Temple of God in which dwells God’s spirit. Stay away from tattoos. The Bible is against tattoos (Leviticus 19 vs.28). It is also unacceptable for a man to have earrings like a woman. Anything, such as nose rings, belly rings, eye rings and tongue rings are disgusting. This goes for both men and women. Men should stay away from earrings altogether.

Be modest in your dress. Don’t use make-up. Don’t put on jewelry. Let your inside rather display the inner beauty that the Creator has given you.

Men and women should refrain from dressing in tight clothes that are an indication of their willingness to serve the lustful, sinful and immoral standards of perversion. Dress properly and don’t advertise your body. Wear loose clothes.

Be gentle in your speech. Don’t use obscene language and curses. Show respect in your words. Use the appropriate words.

Respect should be from both parents and children. Children should respect and honour their parents; and equally parents should not irritate their children, but love them and instruct them according to the teachings of the Bible (Ephesians 6 vs.1-4).

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Ben Uugwanga is the Managing Owner Capstone Research Consultancy CC in Kuisebmond Walvis Bay and has a Masters degree in Public Policy and Administration.