Games Studenets Play -- Uproar

A youth/leader game. (Be sure you have read the introduction to these "games":Games Students Play)

The purpose is to cause an uproar and by so doing destroy whatever is going on – a youth group meeting, a discussion, lesson, a game, whatever. The goal may be to get attention, or to create a distraction to avoid something such as a student who is not able to read in a situation where they might have to.

This can also be a form of “Cops and Robbers” (See a later post on this game)

The game is initiated by the youth causing a commotion in any fashion: falling over backwards in their chair, letting out an expletive, or a loud fart, hitting/tripping/insulting someone, saying something funny and off topic, generally being rude and uncooperative...

This is a difficult game to break because it is hard not to react to the uproar. If the first attempt by the youth is ignored, which it should be if at all possible, they may escalate to something more dramatic. It is important to remain calm and not get heavy handed or overreact. These only makes things worse.

Try to decide why they have started this:

• attention? Try to give them positive attention, “Jane, could you help us out by showing us how to...”
• To avoid something? Then change what is being planned to take the pressure off. By changing directions it also pushes the reset button on the game.
• They are bored? Think about not being boring.

If you can't seem to break it, ask the offending party to go with you to get something the group needs. When out of the room, ask them why they are being so disruptive today. Can you do something to help them be ok?