Little Tin of Teenage Worries

In addition to the popular Little Tin of Big Worries also available is the Little Tin of Teenage Worries aimed specifically at teenagers and the issues they face. The cards address 70 common teenage worries grouped into seven main areas:

1. Social networking
2. Peer pressure
3. Personal issues
4. The world around
5. Home and family
6. Relationships
7. Career and working life

Examples include:

• Becoming a victim of cyber-bullying
• How to get contraception without anyone knowing
• Having spots or acne
• Getting enough Facebook friends
• Finding a job
• Parents splitting up
• Leaving home
• Constant tiredness
• Financial worries
• Wearing the wrong clothes
• Getting into trouble at school
• Drinking alcohol
• Having sex
• Getting an STI and not knowing what to do
• An unplanned pregnancy
• Being laughed at
• A parent losing their job
• Staying away from home
• Getting good enough grades
• Not finding a boyfriend or girlfriend
• Being too tall or short
• Struggling with schoolwork
• Violence in the street
• Being attacked
• Falling out with a friend
• Being a hospital patient
• Getting into an argument
• Choosing the right college or uni
• Violent films
• Having the wrong phone
• Getting into debt
• Being called names
• Stranger danger
• Peer pressure to do things I don’t want to
• Going to parties
• Getting in trouble with the police
• Having to speak in front of a large group
• Getting into a fight
• Taking drugs

There are also seven strategy cards with ideas on how to handle the concerns and to help players decide on an appropriate way to tackle each individual worry. The strategies are:

1. Can I ask someone for help?
2. Are there any positives to this?
3. Do I have all the facts or do I need more information?
4. How likely is this to happen?
5. Is it my worry or does it belong to someone else?
6. Is there anything I can do to stop this happening?
7. Let it go

To use the Little Tin of Teenage Worries lay the seven Solution Cards out on the table and discuss the meaning of each. Then place the Worry Cards in a pile face down and the players take it in turns to pick up the top card, discuss the worry, and decide on which Solution Card is the most relevant.

These cards are ideal for a range of establishments in addition to schools and colleges as although they cover everyday issues that all teenagers face, carefully selected cards can also be used to tackle a variety of mental health problems. The cards can be used with an individual student who is suffering from anxiety or for groups asking each student to find the best solution to the worry. What also works well is to pair up the students with one being the ‘worrier’ and the other being the ‘adviser’. You could also have a third person being an ‘observer’ who listens and makes notes and reports back to the rest of the class. There are teachers’ notes to explain these different uses of the cards.

Contents: 70 worry cards, 7 solution cards, teachers’ notes

Ages 11-19

ISBN 978-1-909380-66-0

Author Eve Wilson has spent over 40 years in education, including ten as a head teacher; she is also a qualified Ofsted inspector for Primary and Early Years. Since leaving full-time teaching, Eve has worked as an educational consultant and adviser and was, for a time, Educational Consultant for the National Association for Gifted Children, running the national Helpline. She has now written, edited and/or published over 100 resources for schools, colleges, nurseries and other professional organisations. Eve is Schools Trustee for the Cedar Oak charity delivering lessons in local secondary schools on sex and relationships, crisis pregnancy and marriage. Eve Wilson, MA, Bed (Hons), Cert Ed (London Institute), OfSTED Inspector qualification.