Real Relationships
Last night I invited a speaker to talk about how to have healthy relationships with the people in our lives, especially with the mentees. As we believe, when a child has caring adults in their life, they are more confident, more successful, do better in school, have more positive relationships with others, and are more happy. Mentors are mentors because they want to have an impact in a child’s life, but how does that happen and what does that look like? Children have many different relationships in their life: with family, friends, school, sports, and when a relationship has stress, it can effect other aspects of their life. It is important for the mentoring relationship to be consistent and positive. A safe place for the mentee to spend time with someone who wants to be there with them. How can mentors articulate their expectations and tell their mentees that they like to spend time with them. When the mentee doesn’t necessarily express the same enthusiasm, that doesn’t mean that they don’t enjoy the time spent together. What are some other ways that the mentee is showing us that they are wanting to be there. Are they engaging in the activity? even just a little? Mentors, even four hours a month, are a large part of the childrens’ lives and can have lifelong ripples.
