HOW CAN OUR COMMUNITIES SUPPORT TEENS?

When I met with Stephanie Bennett, the principal of Pilot Butte Middle School in Bend, OR, to talk about Challenge Day, she asked me if I’d ever heard of the “40 Developmental Assets”. She directed me to http://www.search-institute.org/ to a link that lists Developmental Assets not only for Adolescents, ages 12-18, but also for Early Childhood, ages 3-5 and Middle Childhood, ages 8-12.

These Assets are the building blocks of healthy development as identified through Search Institute’s research. Search Institute is an independent nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide leadership, knowledge, and resources to promote healthy children, youth, and communities.

The Asset that fits DIRECTLY into what I'm up to is number 39, “Sense of purpose – Young Person reports that ‘‘my life has a purpose’”. How great it is that Search Institute has created this list of assets to work towards as we begin the steps that will ultimately create “My Legacy”.

And how great it is that we can play a role in supporting our kids as they seek their purpose/passion as young people and not to wait until the age when I finally found mine.

If kids are your passion, check it out. Together we can make a difference in the world – and so can our kids.

In my next post, I’ll tell you about how “Sparks” can change a youngster’s life.