kids.now

Stories and quotes from kids.now kids, coach-mentors and our school champions.

kids stories

Through our programs, thousands of Canadian kids have been provided with coaching from caring role models, valuable life skills training, and tools to help youth reach their full potential. Every kids.now kid has a story. Here are three of them.*

Ajani: Three years ago, Ajani came to Canada from Afghanistan, where she was forbidden to go to school under the Taliban regime. When she started the kids.now program she was very shy and unsure of herself. Today, she’s a leader among her peers. Her teacher credits the kids.now program with building her self-confidence and self-esteem.

Paul: As a wheelchair-bound student, Paul admits that thanks to kids.now he was able to meet kids he would never have interacted with, had it not been for the program. His coach-mentor says by participating fully in the program and never letting his disability define who he is, Paul is an inspiration to her and his newfound kids.now friends.

Jordan: Jordan is your quintessential overachiever: good at school, good at sports, a star player on his basketball team. He admitted to his kids.now coach that he’s under a lot of pressure to excel, and that the kids.now program has helped him “learn to say no,” to the demands that many people place on his time. For Jordan, the most valuable part of the kids.now program is the stress management module, which helps him cope with the pressures that come with being smart, athletic and successful.

*Names have been changed for privacy reasons.

Quotable Quotes

The best endorsement comes from our kids, our coach-mentors and our school champions. Here’s what some of them they have to say about the kids.now program:

• “I used to beat people up. The kids.now program makes me want to be a better man.” - participant
• “The whole program is amazing.....it was a joy to be part of something so great.” - coach
• “I have gained a lot of knowledge from this program (related to) respecting myself and how to respect others.” - participant
• “kids.now has changed me from a quiet and shy person to someone who is motivated and confident.” - participant
• “I learned that it’s important to listen to others while they are talking, because when everyone listened to me, I felt really respected.” - participant
• “Many students within our school experience low socioeconomic circumstances. kids.now offers these kids an opportunity to benefit from life skills development tools that would otherwise be unavailable to them.” - school champion
• “Because of kids.now I am now a better leader and a better friend.” - participant
• “I’ve learned how to argue less and listen more to the people around me.” - participant
• “I learned so much from these kids. They’re very wise and have so much to say, if you just give them a chance. Often, I just acted as the conversation-starter, and they did the rest!” - coach
• “Our school is in a tough neighbourhood. We spend so much time trying to reach out and discipline the problem kids, that we sometimes tend to forget about connecting with the ‘good kids.’ We see this program as a resource for those kids - to help them excel and continue to be leaders.” - school champion
• “The kids.now program is a fun and educational way to boost self-confidence and increase leadership skills. I count myself fortunate to be a participant.” - participant