Karen Pittman: Kids Need Caring Adults (Video)
Karen Pittman (left), President and CEO of the Forum for Youth Investment, has a saying about working with teens that's worth repeating: "Problem-free is not fully prepared."
How does that apply to teens in the alcohol and drug treatment, or kids in the juvenile justice system?
Focusing just on helping teens get sober or crime-free isn't enough. Like other teens, they have developmental needs they need to meet to be successful. They need support and opportunities to grow their social skills, emotional skills, navigational skills ... competencies that are key to growing up and becoming contributing adults.
How do young people build those skills? They need to be connected with caring adults, in places where they can practice those skills with appropriate feedback.
The trouble is, as Ms. Pittman explained in a brief video interview (see below) that we did with her at the Reclaiming Futures Leadership Institute in May, most efforts to help kids succeed are focused primarily on educational and vocational skills. These are critical, but the trick is to find the caring adults and the places where teens can build and practice those "soft" skills.
Check out what she has to say:
This was originally posted on the Reclaiming Futures blog. It is reprinted here with permission.
graime_j
I find this really insightful. Considering the increasing number of at risk teens nowadays, it makes us think that maybe we as parents and the community do lack something that made our kids become that way. Ms. Pittman did mention great points to be able to avoid possible problems with our young adults and teens. And I agree with providing them with a great support system which consists of a good relationship and cooperation between families, their schools and the community. Leaving all the responsibility of teaching our kids good values to the schools alone is not enough to guarantee that they grow up as responsible and good adults too. It first starts in the home and progresses as the school and the community adds up to give them the life's learnings that they should be equipped with. It is also good for parents to know if ever their young adults do experience being troubled and problematic about anything, that's where our caring adults should come in. This teen questionnaire might have some pointers that an adult should look out for regarding their teens being troubled so that help can immediately be sought.
October 26 at 08:54am
