When Family and Youth Initiatives (FYI) saw so many young 9 – 12 year olds coming in for pregnancy tests, they decided then it was necessary to educate that age group and older in the facts about not only pregnancy, but also all the at-risk behaviors that could waylay their lives and not allow them to pursue their long term goals and dreams. And so a program called REAL LIFE...A MATTER OF CHOICES was born and went into schools with programs from sixth grade up through high school with factual information about sex, bullying, drugs, and other inhibitors of life’s goals.
That was in 1993 and since that time, Real Life has been accepted in over 60 middle and high schools in six counties and has be updated to always give the best researched medical information, relationship skills, character development, refusal skills, and long term goals. The topics have changed with the times and nowdays pornography and its effects on the brain, sexting, teen dating violence, and drug prevention is part of the curricula. Relationships and their differences are examined within all programs with other topics such as STD’s and dating are brought in at the appropriate ages. The main goal of the whole program is to enlighten the youth to the joys of growing up, but also the reality of the consequences of some choices teens make that may alter their lives and make their long term goals difficult to attain.
Wendy Gerstner, director of the program emphasizes, “Our goal is to give teens the reality of the world today and give them the positive choices they can make to help them get to adulthood with their goals and hearts intact. So many do not understand what a positive relationship is and fall into the throes of lust and first loves. We want to explain the differences between that and a love that will last and bloom forever. And after years of educating in this area, we have great result with the kids. They express that they want what we teach and just need the encouragement-year to year-to resolve to try to make positive decisions.”
The Real Life program is Tecumseh and Northwestern Schools, but not in Bethel. If you would like to see it there, please ask your principal to call FYI, 845-0403, and request it to come in. It is a 5 day in-school program and could change your children’s life forever.
