Friendship that Lasts
If you’re a caregiver, parent, teacher, coach or play a role in the life of a young person in some capacity, you know that friendship among kiddos is important. Starting from a young age, friendships help increase our sense of belonging and purpose, boost our happiness, reduce our stress and even improve our self-worth!
As we are meeting with families and listening to their stories, a consistent message we hear is that they want their kids to have friends. They want their kids to belong. They want their kids to feel loved.
How does Pause foster friendships among the kids we serve? We pair kids with similar interests at our events and watch the magic happen! We notice the nonverbal communication between them, who they flock to naturally and their disposition after spending time with each other. When we see connections being made, we pair them with the same child again and before you know it they walk in the doors asking if their friends are coming to have fun too. This spills over into connections between caregivers and we have often seen them chatting at pick-up and making plans outside of Pause! It’s amazing how much organic connection can happen when you take away the labels, boxes and social norms.
One of Pause’s young adults, Holly, took this a step further and decided she wanted to create her own Teen Girls Group! Holly wanted to create opportunities for teen girls to get together, be creative, talk about their similar interests and have fun! Each month, Holly meets with the Pause team to plan her next event by choosing the event location, planning activities they will do and creating an invitation list to send to other Pause teen girls who have shared an interest in the group.
In February, the teen girls group hosted a Frozen 2 movie night, created some Olaf crafts and had a fun time hanging out! In March, they went to a bowling alley. Coming up, Holly has ideas of visiting a local dog park, hosting holiday gift exchanges and even hosting costume parties! #SignUsUp
When we asked Holly why she thought the Teen Girls Group was important, she said, "I think it's important because I've always wanted friends to hangout with and I don't have any friends. I know a lot of other people my age go out with friends all the time and I think it's important for people to hang out with friends."
Holly - you have given other teen girls like yourself the opportunity to be themselves, have a shared experience and most importantly to have fun! You have helped other teen girls feel included and have given them a sense of belonging. This group is shifting kids from isolation to connection - and we think that’s pretty great.
This is CAN DO. This is COMMUNITY. This is YOUR SUPPORT.
*Interested in learning more about the Teen Girls Group or getting connected with Holly? Reach out to Melody.Schurgast@pauseforparents.org for more information!
