Responsibility

Kids need responsibility.  Genuine responsibility. Our middle America lives make this hard.  There aren’t cows to milk or fences to mend so the sheep don’t get out.  Parents work hard, but they do it quietly tucked out of sight making that work a useless tool to educate their children.  Somehow setting the table and vacuuming the rug doesn’t much cut it for a child.

Youth programs in the physical world are important.  The more physical, the more important, the more real the responsibility, the stronger is the lesson that will last for the rest of their lives.  I’m not quite ready to put a thirteen year old at the helm of the Titanic yet, but to put a fourteen year old in charge of a crew of experienced rowers is almost a no brainer.  The responsibility is physical, visceral, and nobody can take it lightly.  The child grows.  Kids begin to believe in themselves. 

People who believe in themselves can do anything.