DIP’s Week of Rules

In everyday life, we are surrounded by rules, but the question is: How much do we folow them? How well do we know and understand them?

DIP encourages our young people to follow the rules in society, and that is why we have our own rules of behaving in our association that we have to follow when we are doing some activities or when we are in public places. However, considering that we are not in physical contact with our DIP members at the moment, we decided to repeat these rules and learn some new ones which we need to follow in these new circumstances since we are spending a lot of time at home with our families, and it is more likely to be frustrated because of lack of socialization and because of media pressure.

That is why, as a part of our seventh week of online activities “Distanced, but social“ (04.05. – 08.05.), DIP had its first „Week of rules“. Everyday, our volunteers raised awareness of the importance of certain rules by showing us educational videos, making quizzes, and by talking with our DIP members via Zoom. We also had discussions about each topic in our Facebook group Volunteers friends DIP. There is a review of all activities and main rules that we picked out based on our discussions, our young people’s opinions, and based on a variety of educational materials:

a. Rules of behavior in DIP (volunteer Nela)

1.Do not talk with strangers, on Facebook or in person.
2. If you are in an uncomfortable situation, seek help from an adult person.
3. We have to be careful with each other.
4. We have to support each other.
5. We must not allow anyone to treat us badly.

b. Rules of nonviolent communication (volunteer Karmen)
1. Talk calmly, don’t raise your voice.
2. If something is not right for you, you have to say it (I messages)
3. If you are angry, count to 10.
4. If somebody is talking, others are listening.
5. If nothing helps, seek help from an adult.

c. Rules of behaving on the Internet (volunteer Sandra)
1. Do not swear, lie, insult, threaten or be violent to others.
2. Do not introduce yourself with someone else’s name.
3. Private conversations and discussions should be lead through private messages.
4. Do not reply to messages from strangers.
5. Keep your personal data private .

d. Rules of behaving in traffic (Erasmus volunteers Lucia and Laura)
1. Be responsible to yourself and other traffic participants.
2. Follow the traffic signs!
3. Do not cross the road while it is RED light, or somewhere where there is no pedestrian crossing!
4. If you have a dog, it is important to pick up its poop.
5. Always stay alert!

e. Etiquette (volunteer Aleksandra)
1. 4 magic words we should use every day: THANK YOU, YOU’RE WELCOME/PLEASE, HERE YOU ARE AND SORRY.
2. When we meet a familiar person on the street, greet her/him politely.
3. When at the table, we need to sit calmly, it is not polite to crunch, keep elbows on the table or legs on the chair.
4. It is important to maintain personal hygiene for yourself and for others (wash hands before and after meal, put hand on mouth when yawn, sneeze or cough, brush teeth every day).
5. It is important to wait patiently for your turn, to help, to share and be good to others.

From everything we made a common message which we would like to share with you:
„Protect your and other’s privacy on the Internet. Remember that nonviolent communication is extremely important – in person and online. Use Internet responsibly, and do not forget – as much as Internet can make our everyday lives easier, we need to be careful. Respect traffic signs, as pedestrians and drivers. They are a huge part of our everyday security. And, of course , do not forget the rules of polite behavior. Let the words THANK YOU, PLEASE, HERE YOU ARE AND SORRY be an integral part of everyday communication. Nonviolent, of course. Respect each others, help those who need help, share with each other and make our community more tolerant and positive with joint actions!“

You can read more about our activities here: https://dip.hr/distancirano-socijalni/