Self-esteem building for young men?

Question

I am looking for any activities that would be suitable for a Youth Worker to use for self-esteem building for a group of teenage men.

Any ideas, websites, resources etc would be greatly appreciated

Answer 1

building self esteem in young men is pretty much the same as building self esteem in anyone... to acquire good self esteem a person needs to have something to do that they enjoy and that they are good at and have some control over it and they have to have not too much of it....

I would sit them down and find out what things are of interest to them... assess during this time what they are capable of... and then ask them to create a plan of what they would like to do and how they will go about doing it...

Have a mutually satisfying reward at the completion of the task and remember to celebrate is an important part of success...

I would suggest getting them together to do a community service of some lasting kind... ie create a garden at a local school or park... or build a shade shelter.... at the outset don't worry too much about what it would cost to do... you can ask them for suggestions about how to cover the cost and trust they will find the answers...

(I have found the best way to raise money for a specific purpose is to work out how much it will cost and then to ring local businesses and ask them for that amount... it is surprising how many businesses are happy to part with money when they know how much is needed and what it is for.)

If you were to decide as a group to build a sun shade at a local playground you can get the men to decide what kind of sun shade is required, work out how much it will cost, what kind of council approval is needed, how will you get the money to complete the project, and who will do what to get the work done and how you want to celebrate the success of the task...

in this way they, as a group, have control over the project, they contribute not just muscle, but brain, and emotion too... and they have a lasting monument to their success as a good citizen...

each time they see kids playing in the shade at the park they are reminded of how important their contribution to their own community is and that they can make a lasting difference to the lives of others.

celebrating the success of the project could be for them to invite either their own families or families of kids who use the park to a BBQ and fun day at the park....

Or alternatively you could celebrate their success by organising for them to go on a trail ride, go white water rafting, abseiling, or other fun event or ring Hoyts or other cinema chain and tell them what the young men are doing and ask them to please donate 2 tickets to any session to each of the young men involved so they can go to the movies.

however the best measure of their self esteem is in how much they can achieve as a group and as individuals and what a difference they can make to their own community.

I hope this helps.

Answer 2

Sport, building things etc but isn't it all about praising them every time they do good things, whether it it was a kind word they uttered or being helpful to someone or saying how clever they are etc & not picking on the faults all the time.Oprah had a group of poor guys learn ediquit by taking them to a nice restaurant after learning before hand all the right cuterly to use etc,but other than that for a group i can't help .sorry

Answer 3

i think the biggest way to build esteem for guys is to let em play multi player games online.....such as cs,wc3,sc....
lots of cocky guys playin those games...one condition tho....the guy playin has to be kickin a$$ or else it'd have the opposite effect and kill the guys self esteem ...