Te Mana ō tātou Tamariki - Kōrero Pono - The power of our children - Speaking truth
Children deserve to have safe childhoods.
Children are vulnerable when adults are stressed or angry. Jade Speaks Up provides schools and communities with processes and resources to support children to articulate what is happening and seek appropriate help.
When children grow in a environment where violence in its many forms is part of their day by day experience, their brains and biology are impacted. Children’s capacity to learn is compromised.
In the current situation of the post-Covid rahui in New Zealand children are witnessing extra stressors on parents. Children have levels of anxiety around the health of people in their family, finances if jobs are in jeopardy and the security of their home if in rental situations. These stressors can also lead to heated arguments which children witness.
Dr Paul Woods, New Zealand psychologist and author of How to Escape from Prison places importance on the need for all children to learn emotional literacy. In an interview for the New Zealand Listener, Dr Woods stated: ‘If I had the power, and the Jacinda magic wand, I would introduce emotional literacy as an across-the-board topic within the curriculum at primary schools. That would be the ultimate ambulance at the top of the cliff, and it would begin to address our rates of suicide, violent crime, criminal offending and drug abuse that occur later in life'.
As an in-school programme Jade Speaks Up is dedicated to providing children with abilities to cope, speak up and keep safe.
