ITS NOT OKEY!

Friends in Rural Africa

..Its Not Okey something is wrong somewhere, INF cant be Quite, We are aware of the situation of the children in Africa. In the rural areas our children are deprived of basic needs, this is not "rural life style" as some people may term it. We urgue the International Community to come up with reliable measures wich will help to cub this problem. Dont Give food which will be over after a short while; instead build a foundation, on it the children will be able to chanel their own future with hope of becoming the agents of change in their own communities. INF in our capacity we involve the children to create this awareness through their talents such as Music, Drama and Poetry. We will not be silent and pretend that everything is Okey. No! its not okey something must be done.

INF Kids was declared the Best Performance during the PEACE AND TALENT FEST

 INF on the Stage during the Peace and Talent Fest

Need A Friend, I need a true friend,
Every Step of my life, I need you.
Just a request, let us make 2013 the year of making many more friends, the year of observing the greatest commandment; love one another. Thanks to the I Need A Friend who were declared the top best performers of Peace and Talent Festival.
Our slogan for 2013 will be, I Need A Friend! More from the song; please share with your friends, thank you!
http://youtu.be/8vtBdDAqrKM



TALENTED KIDS OFTEN NEED TO BE PROMTED ( By Michael Grose)

 A little girl playing piano during a classical musical concert organised by Fr. Vittorio at Don Bosco Utume Karen Nairobi

Talented kids often need prompting to ensure they become well-rounded individuals.

One of the challenges for parents with a talented or bright child is to encourage them to develop a range of interests outside the academic sphere, to not only round them out but to prevent them from being isolated from their peers. Kids with exceptional talent or ability, often referred to as gifted children, are often talented in specific areas such as mathematics, language, sport or music. Some gifted kids are multi-talented and excel in a variety of areas.

Gifted children tend to be passionate and single-minded about their interests, focusing their energy on the topics that absorb them, often to the exclusion of other activities. Just as children need a balanced diet for good health, they need a balance between work and play to make sure they develop good social networks and maintain emotional health. Parents need to guide these children towards leisure options they may not normally consider.

Make time for play

One way to encourage a talented child to be more well-rounded is to get them to lead with their strengths. In other words, it may be that a computer whiz meets up with other like-minded souls, but extend the meetings to activities away from the computer.

Balance for gifted children means that they don't become isolated as a result of their talent. Parents may need to be part social director, gently insisting that children set aside time for play and other social activities.

Encourage risks

Gifted or talented children are often low risk-takers in areas or endeavours that are not their passion or strengths. Used to automatically excelling, many of them fear doing things poorly, so talented children are often reluctant to attempt unknown or different tasks.

It can be quite a shock for these kids to find that something doesn't come easily to them. Often, exceptional kids give up when they are not automatically good at something. Help them understand that some things take time to master and they may need to persist to excel.

Don't push it

Some gifted children slow down their learning when they start school as they focus their time and energy on making friends. This is important if kids are to fit in, however, parents who are proud of their child's achievements can become quite anxious at this apparent shift in interest away from learning.

It's times like this that parents need to step back and follow their child's lead and recognise that different stages of development require children quite naturally to focus on different interests and events.

Making friends

Some gifted kids can have difficulty making friends among their own age group as their language levels or interests don't match. They can have little in common with their peers. Parents can take an active role in encouraging peer group interactions by organising joint play sessions with young children and providing extracurricular activities for school-aged children.

Often children become less involved in solitary activities when they begin to interact with their peers, who exert a strong influence on activity preferences.

Part of the family

Family life can be a great leveller for gifted children. A sibling can bring a talented child back to earth, letting them know that they may be a star at school or in sport but their talent pulls no rank at home. Jobs need to be done, games should be played and big heads can be easily deflated.

Help talented kids stay grounded. Don't give them special privileges or excuse them from chores. Expect them to join in with regular family life.

Balancing act

Talented kids can become self-absorbed in their interests and pursuits to the detriment of developing broader interests and friendships. With a little coaching and prompting, parents can help children achieve balance in their lives so they don't become isolated and rely on a narrow set of interests for their identity and self-esteem.

 

ISACK WAITHAKA

 Isaack Waithaka, a young man with vision and tireless zeal for humanity; he is a founder of Masterpeace Kenya and  a close collaborator of INF.  We appreciate his concern, advice and his friendly manner of being in the Project. We believe that the world needs active young people, those who can make a world a better place for everyone; Animal and Plants, Rich and Poor, Men and Women. The future of humanity is in the hand of young people, the danger is to see a big percentage of them being addicted by substance abuse and alike, while more others are behind the bars, while the rest of them been the victims of a consumerism and the culture of death. We need young men such as Isack to redeem the future of the Humanity. 

DEVELOPING TALENT IN YOUNG PEOPLE by Dr. Michele Borba Ed. D

 Kelvin Wakoli in Action, he was not born playing this, He is a pupil at  Don Bosco Primary School; he has been enabled. INF appreciates all the individuals who are passionate in building the bright future of our childern especially through their talents. 

 Strategies to Nurture Your Child’s Natural Gifts

Here are the steps to apply Bloom’s research to nurture your child’s unique gifts. Remember, the goal is NOT to produce a next Olympian, Nobel Prize or Oscar winner, but to help your child be the best he or she can be. Keep the perspective, right?

Identify “the gift.” Bloom found that the parents’ first step was to recognize their child’s unique talent. (By the way, even gifted children typically show exceptional talent in one or two areas only—not in everything). So watch for areas your child shows intense interest or passion (such as piano, computer, geology, violin, English history, mythology, math).

Make it be your child’s passion. Be sure it’s your child’s interest—not yours. Then choose one –and certainly no more than two-talents or strengths at one time so your child can really explore that interest more in depth and you can discover just how strong the interest is.

Emphasize encouragement. The parents made sure their children’s early talent development was positive, fun and not pushed.

Make practices enjoyable. The parents made their practices enjoyable and usually sat with their kids as they practiced.

Provide resources to cultivate the talent. The children’s talents improved because parents constantly provided the necessary resources to nurture their skills.

Show interest. Parents attended every major activity to show support, and often learned the skill themselves just so they could spend more time with their child. They encouraged – not pushed. They usually followed their child’s lead.

Stand by your child–win or lose. Each superstar had an encouraging parent standing by his side, celebrating his wins and cushioning his loses.

Focus on the talent. All parents placed great emphasis on their children’s evident talents and spent tremendous time cultivating it for years.

There ya go! We can use those strategies for all our kids. Go find your child’s natural gifts. Encourage them! Provide opportunities for your child to stretch that talent. Then follow your child’s lead.

Dr. Michele Borba, Parenting Expert

Bloom’s research found that these world-class talents weren’t simply born talented—they were brought up to become talented. Although each child’s road to achievement differed slightly, their parents all used remarkably similar practices to nurture those gifts.

 

CONTACT US

I NEED A FRIEND PROJEC (INF)
DON BOSCO UTUME
P O BOX 2370-00502 KAREN
NAIROBI- KENYA
+254700350678, +254718246466
Email: ineedafriendafrica@gmail.com