tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8870492126959061342.post7697592466076349250..comments2024-03-26T11:50:32.354-05:00Comments on Youth Development Insight: To help youth succeed, allow them to failUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8870492126959061342.post-34346687287912374522013-08-29T04:13:09.000-05:002013-08-29T04:13:09.000-05:00Thanks for your comment, Margo. Yes, I definitely ...Thanks for your comment, Margo. Yes, I definitely agree that the role of the caring adult is key. You will see that in Deborah's story as well as in the judging example. Now we just have to prep adults to allow this to happen and help them to find the balance between giving youth the chance to fail with giving the needed support.<br>Sam Grantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8870492126959061342.post-83152691411627874392013-08-28T09:59:59.000-05:002013-08-28T09:59:59.000-05:00I think it bears mentioning the role of a caring a...I think it bears mentioning the role of a caring adult in helping youth to reframe failure. Parents, as much as anybody, need to understand the importance of failure, of not meeting your goal everytime out, of not getting a blue ribbon on every project. Real learning (mastery) not only comes from failure, but also self esteem (and independence) as we learn from our failures. Having that caring adult to help us see past the emotion of failure can make the process much easier.<br>Margo Bowermannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8870492126959061342.post-18167954929459314322013-08-23T02:42:37.000-05:002013-08-23T02:42:37.000-05:00Hi Deb,Thanks for sharing your stories. How brave ...Hi Deb,<br>Thanks for sharing your stories. How brave of all of you to be willing to take risks. Wouldn't it be interesting to follow up with those youth today to see their take on the situation? I'm sure this was on of many instances were youth showed their grit.<br>Do others of you have stories to share?<br>Sam<br>Sam Grantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8870492126959061342.post-19440960358747488532013-08-22T09:03:50.000-05:002013-08-22T09:03:50.000-05:00Sam,Timely reminder for sure as the State Fair ope...Sam,<br>Timely reminder for sure as the State Fair opens. One of my best expereinces as a youth worker (and most challenging to my heart) was entering a group of inner-city youth in a team academic competition call the Academic Triathalon. It was a risky decision and I spent a few weeks deeply questioning myself and how it might affect the youth. The first competition was held in a very wealthy suburb in the west metro and as I walked in with my team of 5-6th grade youth from the South side of Mpls, I still remember their eyes ping-ponging around at the elementary school media center, the swimming pool complex, and the lunchroon with family-like tables. It must have felt as different to them as watchng an episode of the Jetson's might have been to me at that age. They failed miserably in almost all of the events that day. But over sub sandwiches we talked through how they felt about it and what they wanted to do with three more events to complete for the year. They decided to come up with their own goals for themselves. They acknowledged that it was unlikely they would win. But they set big goals for what they could accomplish - they picked out their strengths and worked hard to score high in two categories where they had talent. Then they acknowledged to me that they learned a great deal beyond the questions in the competition - about differences in economics and how that related to their performace, about differences afforded in lifestyle and resources and about how inspite of that, they could stand as peers to these competitors in signficant ways.<br>Yup - they failed that day in one way, but we saw it very differently the next time we went to compete and they attacked each event with some serious grit.<br>Deborah Moorenoreply@blogger.com