Children's Alliance of Kansas -- CHOICES II Teen

Choices II – Teen Version

This is an exciting addition to the Choices curriculum. This version concentrates on relationships and how our relationships with others are impacted by our choices as well as how our relationships with others affect our self image. Self discovery and self-esteem building continues to be an important aspect of the program and is evident through every chapter of this version. The chapters are: Me, Myself, and I; Family; Friends; Love Interests; Everyone Else; Your World and WHAT YOU MAKE OF IT.

Me, Myself, and I: This chapter emphasizes how teens can be true to their values yet survive adolescence. The teens have a chance to get to know themselves better and are taught that their relationship with themselves is an important one to nurture. A key concept is to be true to yourself yet not only think of yourself; stressing the need to take into consideration how actions affect other people.

Family: Teens have the opportunity to realize that there is no perfect family and they spend some time understanding how their actions can improve or worsen their family environment. Every family has struggles that they must overcome some are just more noticeable than others. Roles within familiesare explored and the importance of developing good relationships with family members is stressed. A key concept in this chapter is: Don’t expect to get out of a relationship more than you put into it.

Friends: Friends influence our lives in many ways so time is spent on exploring what traits are important to each teen in the “perfect” friend. How do we choose our friends? Also examined are what teens get out of the friendships and how friends are treated. Keeping a balance with different types of relationships in life is explored; building on the balance in life concept taught in Choices I.

Love Interests: Strong emotions are attached to love relationships. How do we keep these emotions from overtaking every aspect of our lives? Pressures to change who you are while in theses types of relationships and lessons learned from relationships ending are key issues dealt with in this chapter.

Everyone Else: Getting teens to stop and think how many people affect their lives and are affected by their choices and actions. Kindness is a strong theme throughout this chapter. The negative effects of bullying are once again touched on in this series through this chapter.

Your World and WHAT YOU MAKE OF IT: Reiterates the concept that they are in control and their choices give direction to their lives. This chapter explores how teens may not choose all the situations that they find themselves in but they do choose how they react to the circumstances of their lives.