Orphans and Vulnerable Children - CRIN

Examples of Don’ts when communicating with children:

• Don’t have a judgemental attitude


• Don’t speak in a commanding manner


• Don’t impose adult values on a child


• Don’t compare children


• Don’t make empty promises


• Don’t talk too much


• Don’t interrupt when a child is talking


• Don’t blame the child as he or she tries to express his or her feelings


• Don’t look down upon the child


• Don’t ignore the child or the importance of what he or she is saying


• Don’t allow your emotions like anger, jealousy and fear to develop


• Don’t form a sexual relationship with the child you are helping


• Don’t use negative body language, such as negative facial expressions or sitting postures


• Don’t evaluate the situation too quickly


• Don’t give the child too much information all at once.

For this activity you will need:

 Flipchart and markers

To facilitate this activity:

1 Briefly review the lists of qualities, knowledge, and skills of good communicators that were

developed in Activity 3. Then get the group to think of the do’s and don’ts of communicating

with children. Ask each participant to contribute one doand one don’t to the list. Write the

responses up on the flipchart. Add to and clarify the do’s and don’ts based on your facilitator’s

notes.

2 Next, ask for volunteers to act out the do’s and don’ts of their choice. Have one participant play

the role of the child and another play the role of the counsellor. After each role-play, ask the

participant playing the role of the child to explain how the counsellor’s actions affected him or her.

For example, you could have the participants act out the ‘do’ ofseparating the problem from

the child, and then the participant playing the role of the child could explain how the counsellor’s

action affected him or her in a positive way.

Alternatively, you could have the participants act out the ‘don’t’ ofinterrupting when a child

is talking, and then have the participant playing the role of the child explain how the counsellor’s

action affected him or her in a negative way.

45 minutes

(^182) Unit 2, Module 2 Guide to Mobilising and Strengthening Community-Led Care for Orphans and Vulnerable Children