This page provides tips on what to do at the beginning and ideas on how you can structure your junior youth group each time you meet.

 

 

Venue

• Regular weekly sessions are often the best as junior youth tend to have busy lives and they are more likely to remember to attend if it is weekly.  Establish the junior youth group so that it features as part of their weekly schedule.
• A 90 minute session (with a 5-10 minute break in the middle) might work well depending upon the junior youth attending.
• Sessions can take some time to plan for (sometimes as long or longer than the actual session) so allow time for this.
• Aim for a mix of study, service, arts and crafts, reflection (prayers and memorisation), social, etc.  You may not be able to do all of these in one session, but aim for variety and not study for the whole of the session.  The ideas in the Using the Junior Youth Books section of this site provides lots of ideas on activities to use when using these books.
• Different weeks could have different focuses.  For example, study and discussions one week, the arts the next, a presentation the week after that.  Always have a Plan 'B' though, in case things don't work out.
• Be prepared to respond to and discuss young people's issues as they arise, such as incidents in the news (like with Ivan in Spirit of Faith - Lesson 1).
• The group may be unsettled for the first few weeks, as individual junior youth join and leave.  Therefore, it might be wise to delay starting the actual junior youth book until the group settles down.  However, introducing study and Bahá'í ideas from the beginning is very important.  You may like to use some of the sessions from 'The Bahá'í Faith' workbook (based on 'Anna's Presentation') which can be downloaded from the bottom of this page.

• Literature should be clear, in simple language and explain that it is a Bahá'í junior youth group (and what this means).
• Ideally, you should home visit the parents.  The booklet: 'Bahá'í Attitudes Towards Children and Young People', can be downloaded from the bottom of the Parent's Stuff page and used as a tool for the home visit.  (The 'how to assemble' instructions are also downloaded from the bottom of this page).
• The International Teaching Centre (24/9/08) said "It would be reasonable to expect that, wherever the [junior youth] programme is well established, over the course of time parents, siblings, relatives and even whole neighborhoods could draw close to the Faith.  This should not, however, alter the primary aim or the integrity of our actions in offering the program as a means to the empowerment of junior youth themselves."
  
• Identifying a community member who knows the community and households can be very helpful and reassure parents who may have reservations about the Bahá'í Faith or junior youth group.
• Junior youth often need to be reminded of session times until it becomes part of the weekly schedule.  Sending text messages to their mobile phones on the day of the session has proven to work well, so try and get their mobile numbers (and or their parents) where possible.
• Advertising the junior youth group in a community setting may work with a laminated poster on a lamppost, but check that this is allowed beforehand.

• Make sure the junior youth and their parents know the start and finish times of the sessions.  Watch out for junior youth hanging around the venue before it is due to start and after it has finished.  Also consider what you will do if a junior youth is not collected.  Do you have a telephone number for the parents?  Do you let them leave by themselves?  Do you drive them home by yourself?
• Do the junior youth need to bring or wear certain clothing (e.g. for arts and crafts)? 
• Make sure you get back any parental consent forms, as these should provide any essential details about the child (medical, emergency contacts, etc.).
• Check that all animators and adults have current CRB Disclosures (Police Checks in the UK) to work with children and young people.  These must be undertaken through the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the UK (if living in the UK).  Please note that CRB Disclosures are not transferable from other organisations.