Our Impact

ANSWER CREDO:

"Transforming lives by nourishing
minds and feeding futures"

To Empower ChangeTo Empower Change

Helping children feel good about themselves

How children see themselves is important for a healthy and productive life. Children at ANSWER gain self-confidence and score better marks in school. They understand the resilience comes not from failing, but from the experience of learning that you can pick yourself up, try again, and succeed.

Children learn from overcoming challenges, but also learn best when they experience success, which motivates them to tackle more difficult challenges. More importantly, children who have a positive image of themselves tend to make more friends because they seem sure of themselves.

Learning To Cope With Stress

Every child reacts to stress differently. Some children seem to be born with easygoing personalities. Others tend to be upset and are easily disrupted by new situations and challenges. Although we cannot change their personalities, we can teach them the ways of managing and reducing harmful stress. The following are most helpful

We spend one-to-one time with our children each day.

We keep communication lines open with our children.

We set clear rules and consequences, and have realistic expectations.

We encourage children to talk about what is bothering them.

We encourage healthy eating and physical activities.

We make sure children get enough sleep.

We help identify the cause of the stress.

We teach children how to relax, make decisions and solve problems.

We provide our children with a sense of security.

We monitor our own stress levels; so that we can be a role model for our children.

the story

/ You Need to Know

Surviving Teen Years

Recent research indicates that the part of the brain that influences decision making and problem solving doesn’t fully develop until early adulthood.

This means, in calm situations, teens can reason as well as adults, but pressure hijacks a teenager’s ability to make good decisions.

We at ANSWER assist resident children in their teens make better decisions. After helping them define the problem, we take teenage children through the six primary steps to right decision-making:

List the choices:

Think about the pros and cons of each choice
Assess the consequences
Compare the consequences and their importance
Decide and act
Evaluate the consequences, both expected and unexpected

The bottom line is that sometimes ANSWER staff acting as guardians, need to make the final decision. But we always involve teens in decisions on matters that directly affect them.

The truth is, when teens feel they have no control in the decisions important to them, they are more likely to feel angry and rebellious and to make rash decisions.

Which is why we take them seriously, treat them fairly and ask for their opinions and listen to what they have in mind. At ANSWER, an easily accessible Suggestion Box is kept where children are free to express freely any issue that bothers them without fear.

“One thing I learnt is to forgive. Not to keep anger bottled up. This helps me to heal, grow and focus on building a relationship.”

“I can’t keep blaming others because of what happened to me. Now, when I get angry, I count to three. This gives me the chance handle my emotions”

“Now I have a family and friends. This is so different from the time when I didn’t have any. Togetherness mean a lot to me.”