Thinking out loud!

I wanted to take a moment to reflect on a one of the current events in my life. I am very excited to say that the work on the At-Risk Youth Guide we are doing is truly fufuling. I have uncovered so many of my own locked away secrets just by putting pen to paper in an attempt to help others who struggle as I did and still do at times. It is amazing to me that with all the news about bullying, teen suicide, and teen drug and alcohol use, that more is not being done to offset this phenomenon! As opposed to focusing on all three as separate entities, I suggest that if we merely focus on what leads to all these kids being at risk, then we can figure out how they are becoming at-risk, and then what we can do to change it! I'm quite sure that we can all agree that a bully or victim of bullying, a drug using teen, and any kid that considers or chooses suicide, are all at-risk. I know it's terrible what's happening with all these bullies and their victims, but is nobody truly interested in why that youngster is a bully in the first lace? Maybe their life outside of school is a terrible one? As opposed to reacting to these kids like they are monsters, or like they are aware of why they do these things, why don't we try to asses what's going on for that child and try rescuing them as well as their victims.

Throughout my work with at-risk youth, and being a survivor myself, I have witnessed an enormous amount of misplaced anger and emotions. If these kids don't have the ability to process and deal with these emotions, how can we hold them fully accountable for their actions which are based on those emotions!?

I encourage you to comment and share your thoughts!

Incredible quote, thanks Dad!

Charles R. Swindoll: 

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”

Good lesson on Bullying

A teacher in Newfoundland was teaching her class about bullying and gave them the following exercise to perform. She had the children take out a piece of paper and told them to crumple it up, stomp on it and really mess it up but do not rip it. Then she had them unfold the paper, smooth it out and look at how scarred and dirty is was. She then told them to tell it they’re sorry. Now, even though t...hey said they were sorry and tried to fix the paper, she pointed out all the scars they left behind. And that those scars will never go away no matter how hard they tried to fix it. That is what happens when a child bully’s another child, they may say they’re sorry, but the scars are there forever. The looks on the faces of the children in the classroom told her the message hit home!!