Compassion and Giving are good for our health. Adolescents can participate in the Giving Games and help their community and their health!
What a great time to highlight a recent article on recognizing the important role community interaction plays in an individual’s health. Recently Parissa J Ballard and S Leonard Syme published “Engaging Youth in communities: A Framework for promoting adolescent and Community Health.
”[1] It is well accepted in the fields of public health and social epidemiology that communities play an important role in individual health. The authors of this article focus on examining the implications of community engagement on health. Of particular interest is the adolescent population. Several factors contribute to adolescent development – biological and mental- regarding community factors (for example neighborhood structures and socioeconomic conditions) but less recognized is the impact of an individual's contribution to their community. “What people contribute to their communities, through collaboration with others to address social issues, maybe just as – or even more- beneficial to health than receiving support.”
The authors propose an initiative in health research to focus on youth civic engagement (YCE) as a promising approach to synergize efforts to promote adolescent and community health. "Adolescence is a critical window of development with changes at multiple levels, from biology to social role transitions, during which opportunities for participation in meaningful activities, feeling that one matters, and forming warm and supportive relationships with adults are crucial to positive youth development."
The authors believe that by offering youth meaningful and empowering opportunities to engage with their communities, you can provide positive experiences for adolescents at a crucial developmental period while at the same time channeling the considerable skills and energy of youth to improve communities. Right now in Play for Peace, we have partnered with Compassion Games: Survival of the Kindest to do just this, promote community service, generosity, and compassion among children and youth. Below are reports from our Play for Peace Community and friends who are participating in the Giving Games that started yesterday. 
Day 1 Report: Play for Peace has a great start to the Compassion Games Norway - Team Alfie We have organized a workshop with more than 40 kids from 3 to 12 years old. We shared glue, painting, and glitter and sang Christmas songs. We shared stories and laughed. It was a wonderful experience that has impacted our small community a lot by creating joy.
Compassion Impact Volunteers/Players 45 * Hours Served 5 * People Served 120 Guatemala - Play for Peace Staff Today I joined the Giving Games as the Director of Play for Peace but also as a mother. My daughter and I played secret agent mission #1 by taking the oath together and then opening our garden to host young leaders of the Play for Peace Club for a camping trip. We cooked roasted marshmallows, planned community service projects for CG, and enjoyed each other's company.
Guatemala The life these youth lead is very difficult, they all face poverty and insecurity. One of the young women leaders who joined us is currently facing death threats and extortion by local gangs. We all have lost friends who were in similar circumstances. The fact that their free time is spent planning compassionate acts is beyond inspiring, it renders me speechless. The oath we took today was certainly taken to heart by both my daughter and me!
Compassion Impact Volunteers/Players 3 * Hours Served 12 * People Served 4 Guatemala - Club Juvenile Play for Peace Palencia It was fun to be together again and unite our Club. I feel I can always count on the people in this group. These meetings when we come together are good for motivating each other to keep working for peace. We also reflected we want to grow our group. We are going to do community service next Tuesday and invite all the members who couldn't be with us tonight. We met as a group to celebrate all of the community service actions we have led over the years and choose what we hope to do for Compassion Games this week. We played mini-golf together and camped out overnight.
Bibliography
[1] Ballard PJ, Syme SL. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2015 Oct 6. pii: jech-2015-206110.
