Natural Purposeful Mentors
One of my major teachings is to allow adults to realise their worth to young people already in their personal lives.
Most adults have a fixed belief that they have to go out to young people they do not know in order to help, yet so many adults do already know young people, personally, where it would be and is, so much less complicated to build stronger and most positive relationships that then changes young people’s lives and the lives of the children’s families. With ease, rather than starting from scratch with young people who have not good experience of them in their home communities.
Once adults understand this change of direction, they realise very quickly their value and how easy it is to know how to support young friends and their whole families, significantly without spending hours. Sometimes even a really brief, genuinely interested chat as the adult and youngster pass in the street can have a massively positive effect upon the young person’s view of themselves. They, their family and their friends even, begin to build warmly welcomed identities in their neighbourhood.
This simple focus, when actively and widely taught, has the power to change the lives of thousands.