Life skills

• Every person should have a dream – what do you want to become.
•  The choices I make daily will determine my future

• I choose the right friends
• I spend time with people who can help me achieve my goals
• I keep away from bad influence
• I attend all lessons, revise my books, and listen to my parents

Did you know that there are things about you, both good and bad, that you don’t but others know?

• Were you surprised about what your friends thought about you? l Did you learn something new about yourself? What was it?
•  Did you know that there traits/ abilities/talents/ gifts about yourself that you and your friends don’t know? These usually get to be known by yourself or others when you find yourself in challenging situations.
• It is important to have an accurate awareness of yourself, so that your can strengthen those things that need to be strengthened and make even better use of those traits that are already good.

What I need to know:

We make many different decisions every day example; deciding what to wear, choosing friends, deciding when to do school work, etc. Often, we have to choose what is most important for us in life. Look through the following list and rank what you consider most important,

1. New clothes
2.  Big birthday party
3. Loving parents
4. New phone
5. Successful career
6.  Being beautiful/handsome
7. Passing all your classes with the highest marks
8. Having lots of money
1.  Having caring friends
10.  Living in a big house

Decision making is about choices from a number of option

Effective decision-making should be a considered process involving the following steps:

1. Define the Problem/Issue: Find out what causes the problem or issue at hand
2.  Consider the Alternatives: Identify different possible ways of solving the problem.
3. Consider the Consequences of each alternative: For each alternative identified, think about how it can affect you, your family, your friends or other people.
4.  Choose the Best Alternative.

What I need to do: I always think about the possible consequences of each decision I make. Before you make the decision, ask yourself, does this decision:

• Promote health?
• Protect safety?
•  Follow laws?
•  Show respect for myself and others?
• Follow the guidelines, rules and regulations of school and home?
• Demonstrate good character?

What I need to know

• Time management is organizing and planning how much time you spend on an activity.
•  We all have the same time, 24 hours a day.
• Time lost is never found.
• When I come late to school, you will miss lessons. This affects I performance.
• My success depends on how well I utilize your time
• Poor management of time causes you stress and affects your success.

What I need to do

• I need to plan and sequence my activities starting with the most time-sensitive.
• I need to timetable and prioritize my activities helps to help me keep focused and succeed
• I always reflect on what I have done against planned activities. I give each activity a time-frame.

Tips for time management

• Sleep early and wake up early
• Plan your daily activities
• Do things at the right time
• Avoid distractions
• Follow the warning of the school bell
• Learn how to use a clock/a watch
•  Learn to say no
•  Hang out with motivated and productive people

What I need to know

• Stress is a condition constant worry that results when faced with a demand or challenge that appears unmanageable. There are both school related and home related causes of stress.

Some causes of stress are:

• poor time management,
• poor academic performance,
• stigma,
• Sickness,
• Trying to do many things at ago,
• Having bad friends,
• Doing wrong things,
• Failing to deal with menstrual hygiene issues
• Having unhealthy relationships.
• Lack of basic requirements
• Stress can lead to, headache, irregular attendance/dropping out of school, joining bad groups, pain and may cause death etc

What I need to do

• I need to share my worries with a trusted friend/teacher/ parent
• I need to be actively involved in school activities.
• I accept mistakes and correct them.
•  I seek guidance and counseling
•  I get enough sleep.
• I do regular exercises.
•  I stay with supportive friends.

• Health seeking behavior is a habit of always looking for a d v i c e and help about your health.
• Knowing when and where to look for help is important for my health
• There are many persons (parents, teachers, health workers, counselors etc) and places where I can go for help

What I need to do

• I watch out for any signs and symptoms of sickness e.g high temperature, rush, vomiting, inching etc
•  I always report my health problems to my parent, nurse, teacher or school authority
• I go to a nearby health center in case I have a health problem
• I always follow the advice of the health worker

What I need to know

• Negotiation is a discussion aimed at reaching an agreement.
• There are many situations in life where you need to negotiate for your interests, for example, when someone tries to persuade you to have sex.
• Good negotiation skills can help you avoid abuse and taking risks that may lead to HIV infection
• Know your rights and stand by your values and decisions

 What I need to do

• I need to always demand for my rights
• I need to learn to speak out openly but respectfully.
• I need to refuse and report bad touches. A bad touch is when someone touches my breasts, bums, long hugs and any other that makes me uncomfortable
• I refuse gifts and other offers without the knowledge of the parents/guardian (e.g from strangers).
•  I belong to school clubs and work actively with my peers for support.

What I need to know

• Leadership is influencing others to accomplish a given objective.
• All of us are born to be leaders
• The person you lead first and foremost is yourself.
• In school leaders are group leaders, class monitor, prefect, Head prefect, club presidents, Headmaster, etc Good leaders are there to influence positively and serve others