As future leaders of their own families and the current leaders of their own lives, students need to develop leadership skills. The book Developing Leadership Skills emphasizes taking responsibility by making good decisions, taking the lead in understanding others and developing relationship skills, being community-minded, being responsible in romantic and sexual relationships, coping with adversity and diversity, handling money, and being responsible for the environment. Examples of leaders, both famous and not-so-famous, as well as examples of leading schools of thought, help students relate to what leadership really is. Entertaining graphics and intriguing sidebars tell illustrative stories that underscore the meaning of the chapters. Questions for Reflection, Exercises, and Reflection Exercises at the end of each chapter help the student take ownership over the material.

Should You Have Sex Before Marriage?

Leadership involves making good decisions. One of the most important decisions many young people face today is whether to wait until marriage to engage in sex or to go ahead before marriage. This is a major decision in how to lead one’s life and should be considered  carefully.

Many media messages seem to tell us there is nothing unusual or wrong with having sex without marriage. People in movies and on TV do it all the time. However, there are rarely any consequences shown on the screen—like diseases or unwanted pregnancies. The reality of people’s lives who are having sex without marriage is a very different story.

Explain that the class is going to play a game based on a Victorian parlor game.

The students stand in a circle. One student is chosen to stand in the middle of the circle. He or she slowly turns all the way around once, while the students forming a circle try to make him or her laugh. The goal of the student in the middle is to turn all the way around once, meeting every other student’s eyes, without smiling or laughing. The students in the circle cannot touch the person in the middle, but they can make funny faces, funny sounds, say funny things, make jokes, tease, dance, or do anything to make the person laugh. This should be a lot of fun.

Anyone who can stand in the middle and turn all the way around once, meeting every other student’s eyes once time without breaking into a smile or laughing will get a piece of candy.

When the game is over, and students have settled down, explain that they may have a goal of saving sex until marriage. However, a lot of people will try to make them give in—just like in the game. It’s not easy to resist other people trying to tempt you into having a “fun” or “good” time, is it?

Explore UPF's comprehensive character education curriculum

  English: Discovering the Real Me
  Spanish: Descubriendo mi verdadero yo

The title says it all: firmly entrenched in adolescence, the thirteen to fourteen year old is definitely going through changes! As the characters in the stories of this book find out, the adolescent urge for independence is sometimes at odds with parental concerns about safety and sexuality, childhood friendships change and are subject to scrutiny from other peers; sibling rivalry may reach new heights on the athletic field, and belonging means something more than being part of a group of friends one’s own age. These thought-provoking stories show adolescents in the midst of their family and school lives, triumphs and struggles, as they go through the metamorphosis from childhood to adulthood.

“I Hate You, Mom and Dad!”

“C’mon, Dad,” cried out Emily to her father. “I’m thirteen years old now. I’m a teenager, not a baby.”

With that, she stomped up the stairs, making sure each step was heard throughout the house. At the top of the stairway, she shouted, “I hate you!” and slammed the door.

Emily’s father gazed at his wife and sighed. She shot back a sympathetic look. Their daughter’s dramatic exit from the dining room was brought on by her father’s refusal to allow her to date an older boy. In his mind, thirteen was too young to be dating at all, especially older boys. This boy, Carl, did not have a good reputation, either. There were rumors that he had gotten one girl pregnant.

Ask students how many of them thought Emily’s parents were wrong at the beginning of the story. Did any change their minds by the end of the story? How many still thought Emily’s parents were wrong by the end of the story?

You could make a chart similar to the one here and tally their votes.

Dawning adolescence is a time when both the inner and outer world of the child are rapidly changing. Childhood friends are not as good a “fit” as they used to be, new interests are sparking new friendships, the desire to belong may mean succumbing to peer pressure to do things one doesn’t believe in, or else to stand up to the crowd with courage and integrity. Then there are those friendships with the opposite sex that suddenly have some new feelings in them. The question of purpose comes up: the old, irresponsible childish ways are no longer enough to cope with the pressures and expectations, yet knowing who and what one will be is a shore dimly seen at this age. Who Will I Be? deals with this challenging time of life through stories of typical situations children this age might be facing. Thought-provoking Questions for Reflection, Exercises, and Reflection Exercises help the students look at the serious questions of who they are and who they are going to be. 

Everything’s Changing!

Jenny ran out of the house and down the street as fast as she could. What’s wrong with me? She thought. Why was it that recently it seemed every conversation with her parents turned into a shouting match? Everything they did irritated her. Their questions, their advice, even seemingly harmless things like “Dinner’s ready!” could set her off.

Write on the board the word “Metamorphosis.” Ask if anyone can tell what it means. Explain that metamorphosis means a change in structure or form so complete that it is hard to recognize something or someone as the same being it was before the metamorphosis.

Pass around pictures of you as a baby, toddler, etc., saying that these photos show some of the metamorphoses you have been through in your lifetime. Ask students to note how very different—yet in many ways the same—you looked throughout the years as you metamorphosed from a baby to a toddler, from a toddler to a young child, from a young child to an adolescent, and finally from an adolescent to an adult. (Accept their comments with humor!) Ask them to go home tonight and look at baby and toddler and young child pictures of themselves and then to go and look in a mirror. Ask them to observe how they have metamorphosed from babyhood up until now.

Explore UPF's comprehensive character education curriculum

  English: Discovering the Real Me
  Spanish: Descubriendo mi verdadero yo

Brian discovers a “voice” within that rebukes him when he makes wrong choices; Tommy shows his friends that choosing to work hard pays off; Melodie chooses to tell her best friend that she won’t help her cheat; Jacinta, the new kid in school, chooses to tell on some boys she saw stealing; Robert chooses to keep losing his temper—and loses everyone’s respect as a result; Maria chooses to have her own way all the time, even at the cost of her best friends; and Naji chooses to overcome his poverty-stricken background and succeed in school and life. These young people and others are faced with trying situations in A World of Choices. Some of them make good choices, and some of them do not. Echoing throughout the book is the theme of responsibility—that a person’s destiny is truly in his or her own hands. Full of stories that reflect real situations children this age might be facing, A World of Choices also offers Questions for Reflection and Exercises at the end of each chapter to draw out and reinforce the lessons of the stories.

 The Cramers Get It Right

It’s a quiet Saturday afternoon in the community. At the Cramer house, two of the children, Bob and Al, are happily playing the latest video game. Earlier, they watched a rental movie, and later, they will go to the mall to hang out. The third Cramer child, Samantha, is packing a lunch and filling a canteen with nice, cold lemonade for herself. Soon, she’ll be off to a picnic in the park she has arranged with some of her school friends. She can hardly wait to go paddling on the park pond. She loves to dip her feet in the cool water. Such fun!

Explore UPF's comprehensive character education curriculum

  English: Discovering the Real Me
  Spanish: Descubriendo mi verdadero yo

I Am Valuable

Ask students to take out a piece of paper and draw a large oval on it. Explain that this is to be how they see themselves—their inner mirror or self-image. (Or you could ask them to close their eyes and imagine a mirror image in it.)

Ask students to write or mentally write the following affirmations inside the outline of the mirror:

Ask students to write or mentally write the following affirmations inside the outline of the mirror:

I am good.
I believe in myself.
I know I have good qualities.
I am loved.
I am strong inside.

Explore UPF's comprehensive character education curriculum

  English: Discovering the Real Me
  Spanish: Descubriendo mi verdadero yo