Photo By Cpl. Scott L. Tomaszycki | Students interact with Trevor Romain during the question and answer portion of his...... read more read more
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HAVELOCK, N.C. -- Children’s motivational speaker Trevor Romain visited Cherry Point and the local community, April 12-14, to speak with elementary school students and their parents about the challenges of being a military child.
Romain is a former soldier of the South African Defense Force who made up his mind to help children live better lives after seeing children affected by war in Angola. To this end, Romain has written 50 books, started an animated TV series on Public Broadcasting Service, toured children’s cancer centers and orphanages, and now works with the USO to help American military families.
As part of his “With You All the Way” tour in partnership with the USO, Romain spoke with several hundred children.
They discussed how to deal with bullies, how to face fears, good homework habits, how to deal with feelings and how to deal with the stress of a parent deploying overseas. During their lunch hours, Romain spent his time going from table to table bonding with the children on a personal level.
When talking with both parents and children, Romain says that children need to be taught how to express their feelings and handle their emotions.
“I think what we really want them to do is express how they’re feeling,” said Romain. “One, we want them to be able to connect with adults and let them know what’s going on with them. Two, we want them to express their feelings by talking, by drawing, by expressing themselves, and by writing in journals. Then, when they are angry, frustrated or sad, they need to know that it’s okay to have those feelings. It’s what we do with those feelings that count.”
Teachers at the schools Romain visited said that he did a good job of getting the children to open up and express their feelings on various subjects.
“It was inspirational to the children,” said Lynne K. Bogard, a fourth-grade teacher at Graham A. Barden Elementary. “I’ve never seen kids want to share their stories, their problems and issues as I did then. He was able to bring them out, especially when he focused on the military kids. They really connected with him.”
Bogard went on to say the skills Romain teaches are valuable because if the children bottle up their feelings, they will eventually come out in a negative way.
Romain also spoke with parents at his Parent’s Talk presentation at Miller’s Landing. He addressed the issues of raising a child in the military, such as teaching children to deal with cliques, bullies, deployments, fear and divorce. He also encouraged parents to make sure they listen to their children and adhere to their needs.
“One of the most important things for parents is that we spend a lot of our time as adults telling children what we think they need to hear instead of listening to what they’re asking for,” said Romain. “We want to fix things for kids. We want to make it better, but sometimes what we have to do is give them the tools to manage what’s going on themselves so they can learn as they grow.”
At the end of his three-day tour, Romain met with Carol E. Davis, the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing commanding general’s wife, and toured the air station before his departure.
Romain departed Cherry Point April 15 to continue his tour at other military bases. According to Woody Englander, president of the Trevor Romain Company, the tour shows military children that there are other children and families who know what they’re going through, and it helps them cope better with their troubles.
“We started the tour back in September, and we’ve been to about 30 bases and talked to about 40,000 kids,” said Englander. “We hope to continue for several more years.”
| Date Taken: | 04.14.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 04.21.2011 10:49 |
| Story ID: | 69100 |
| Location: | HAVELOCK, NC, US |
| Web Views: | 86 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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