Shenzhen Yiqi Teenager Growth Guidance Center visited the Mintai Community in Minzhi Subdistrict of Longhua District on the afternoon of December 28 to launch a drama activity to promote friendly interactions among kids. Titled “I Love Friends,” the activity is part of a project aiming to build more friendly family, school and community environments for children.

The activity began with warm-ups in which parents and kids walked around to meet and greet other participants under the guidance of drama teachers. They were then divided into three groups to discuss the problems and conflicts they encountered when interacting with others and presented the scenarios in the form of drama.

Members of a drama group from a primary school in Minzhi also gave a performance about fights between friends that included writing letters of apology, making up and becoming friends again. After the performance, the teachers introduced the topic of how to have friendly interactions and gave example scenarios involving family, school and the community and helpful language, emotions and behavior. They also gave tips on how to maintain friendly interactions, for example using polite words such as “please” and “thank you,” and listening to figure out what actually happened before taking action when involved in a conflict.

Many kids said that they learned how to resolve conflicts and what to do about bullying through the activity. Some parents said they would treat their children on a more equal basis, give them more respect and listen more closely.

Supported by the CPC Work Committee and Women’s Federation of Minzhi Subdistrict, the project aims to arouse children’s awareness of the importance of friendly interaction and teach them interpersonal skills. Yiqi Teenager Growth Guidance Center has designed a learning kit focusing on improving children’s interpersonal skills and abilities and will distribute it in different communities and schools to benefit more kids and families.

(Yu Yuanfan)