7 Characteristics of Youth Work

1. Knowledge of the principles and practices of child and youth development and ability to use this knowledge to achieve the goals of the program.
- This is taking everything that was absorbed during the time in school and using it out on the field. Whether it be in a class room, social work office, or out on an athletic facility everything learned can be used. The instructor must be aware of all of the various principles and practices and be able to apply. In my work and coaching I use a lot of these tactics that I have learned so far such as positive reinforcement for a child who may get down very easy. They need to see that you saw them do something good even if it is something small.

2.  Ability to comply with applicable safety and emergency requirements.
- This is saying that the instructor must be aware of people that they are working with if they have certain allergies or asthma or any health risks that may cause someone to take action and they need to know how to react in a certain situation. At work we hold on to Epipens for kids who need them and train all of our workers in CPR and First-Aid.

3. Ability to promote an inclusive, welcoming, and respectful environment that embraces diversity.
- Organizations need to be open to all people and never reject someone from participating in a program for a certain race, gender, disability, etc. I feel as if youth would benefit from working with others in the opposite gender and may be able to learn different things. At work we open our leagues and programs to everyone even those with disabilities and will accommodate for them if need be.

4. Ability to foster academic and non-academic skills and broaden participant horizons.
- There is more to what is in the book for youth workers. Youth workers need to be creative and think of other things to make the youth happy and involved in particular things. Youth workers need to be able to when to go by the book and when not to and explore different things and when do draw the line between.

5. Ability to effectively implement curricula and program activities.
- Youth workers need to be able to not just use what was learned in their time in school, but use it where there is change happening and kids are learning from what is being instructed to them. Youth workers should not just go through the motions and if a message is not getting across quite the way they want to then they should slow down go over something again and ensure the message gets across.

6. Ability to promote responsible and healthy decision-making among all participants.
-  Youth workers need to be able to keep kids active as well as making good eating decisions and ensure good eating habits. I run a lot of youth sport programs that keep kids active year round. What I would like to  hopefully do in the future is do something with the youth teaching them good eating habits at my work. I would really like to make that happen.

7. Ability to develop leadership, team-building and self-advocacy skills among participants.
- Youth workers need to ensure to the youth how important it is to have good team work and leadership skills as well as how important it is to be good as an individual as well such as good attitude, good team player, hardworking, etc.