Mentoring your Children.

Mentoring your Children.

I always get annoyed when I ask grown-ups, even parents, who are their mentors? Someone will tell you my mentor is Obama, Donald Trump, etc. yet they have never met personally or even knowing each other. I tend to refute such responses which we shall discuss as we move on. A few concepts to understand for us to know what is mentorship.

A mentor can be defined as a trusted guide or counselor. Or an individual who is usually older, always more experienced, who help and guides another individual’s development. This guidance is not done for personal gain. 

A mentee is an individual or a student who wants to learn from someone who knows and seeks their valuable advice in order to grow personally and/or professionally. The question remains, should we mentor our children?

All children need an adult to help with homework, listen when they have a problem, and push them to be their best. If you're overwhelmed by the stresses of life and parenting or just think your child needs another caring adult to help foster successful habits, a formal relationship with an adult mentor might be the answer.

According to statistics, American children between the ages of 6 and 18 have adult mentors in their communities. It is believed that children benefit from added adult interaction. While mentors are advocates for the kids they work with, their job isn't to replace a child's parents or fix problems in a family. "We’re just an extra pair of hands here to help.

How does mentoring children help?

Research by the University of Luton Vauxhall Centre for the Study of Crime has shown that mentoring children and young people leads to a reduction in offending behaviour. At one location, as much as 77% of young offenders did not re-offend once they had been assigned a mentor. What's more, many children who are mentored are found to become less disruptive at school and more able to re-engage with mainstream education.

According to another research done by MENTORS, when these children are compared to their peers, 52% will rarely miss school, while 46% of them will not engage themselves in illegal drugs and 27% will not use alcohol. Parents should always try to connect their children to mentors because mentors tend to open more opportunities to their children.

Where do we get mentors?

Mentors can be found by parents themselves or from organization mostly youth organization. However, parents need to get trusted mentors for their children in order to avoid problems. Get mentors whom you have known them for a long period of time. In case you choose an organization, they will try to match your child interests, age and needs. In general, it is very important to pair male children with male mentors and vise versa.

Finding a mentor for your child could produce immeasurable benefits. Mentors open up worlds of opportunities for kids, encouraging them to get a good education, make responsible decisions and have a successful life. This is possible. Try it.