I’m tired. I mean, really tired of seeing and hearing about today’s kids that wind up in the news as Antifa members, thieves, druggies, pink haired guys who think they are girls and of course, the shooters. Pretty much, when we see a broadcast about kids it’s going to be something bad and it sometimes makes me wonder if a whole generation or two hasn’t gone completely bat crap crazy. Then, tonight I watched a short video with around 200 clean and neatly dressed kids lending their voices to one of my favorite songs. As I watched those near angelic faces and listened to the song they accompanied, all the things that the news shares about the young of today suddenly disappeared. I think…..there is indeed hope after all. So, how about it. Is there something you can share that will further let us all know that the majority of our young will be just fine? A personal testimony, a short vid or whatever …….
My daughter brought my grandson over after his little League game. He came in all smiles he won the game ball with his 1st base hit ever as a little leaguer. It meant much more when the coach text his mother to congratulate him. He's a kid who tries hard to do better. I personally believe There are millions more kids doing the same.
To tell the truth, I would much rather watch Little League baseball than any pro team sports. They play with their hearts and not their wallets.
I agree watching children do anything it's with their hearts and it's one of life's Pleasures to watch. My other grandson stayed home with me and my wife he didn't want to go to the game I have about a week ago picked up cut offs (blocks) of wood from the construction crew working on my house, he's been building bridges, homes, forts, towers, with these blocks, after every accomplishment it's "Grandpa look what I built". Of course I praise him and encourage him to build something else he's seven but he loves to build things. I put these blocks in a box and put them down where they can see them, trying to get all three of my grandkids to play less with their video games. So far it's working.
I know lots of good kids, but I've never met a really bad one. The media is not reality...it's a perverted magnifying glass (but we all know that.) I've mentioned the two home schooled neighbor boys I used to watch when mom & dad had Date Night. When it snowed, they and their father would walk up the block and shovel the sidewalk for the elderly woman who lived there. They did lots of stuff like that. When I worked with the non-profit doing home repairs, we would sometimes get Youth Groups from churches to help. They were a bunch of adolescent boys & girls just working on a stranger's home, having fun and getting as much paint on themselves as on the house...and smiling all the time. When we worked on our large annual project that garnered corporate sponsorship, some of the volunteers from that business would bring their kids. There was one 14 year old boy who fell in love with the nail gun. He must have tacked down every board in this huge handicap ramp we built. We got his picture on the front page of the county newspaper. It was then that one of our board members pointed out that we better hope our insurance carrier didn't see that edition. (oops) My favorite was when I volunteered with a non-profit that coordinated volunteerism in the county and put on an annual Volunteer Recognition event. We gave out various awards, my favorite being the Youth Volunteer Spirit award. We reached out to the high school guidance counselor for recommendations. We would always get 4-5 nominations. These high school kids did everything from volunteering with EMS to working with the elderly in a couple of the retirement homes out here. It would bring tears to your eyes to see their pride (and the pride of their parents) as they received their engraved statue. All those kids (and so many more) deserved an award. Inspiring hope for the future...
I was thinking about @Tony Page’s post about his grandson and Little League and that brought me to thoughts about other team like groups that are out there doing good stuff and then Drum and Bugle Corps came to mind. The Drum and Bugle Corps is not a place for a kid who won’t or can’t because cannot isn’t even close to being in the vocabulary of a young person in a Corps. Like football teams, they do a lot of traveling to show at local events and also to compete in Drum and Bugle Corps competitions. The participants ages are generally between 13-18 because at 19, they’re an adult and can no longer be on the line. It’s hard work, the rules are extremely strict and other than team recognition and the feeling of personal accomplishment, there are no rewards ($) but yet, thousands of boys and girls alike join up to don the uniform of their local chapter and show what they’ve got. Here’s a short 3 minute video of one particular participant who went the extra mile just to be in his chapter of the Drum and Bugle Corps. By the Bye…..I used to be a soprano bugler for one season in The Buccaneers Drum and Bugle Corps.
The drummer's story was really good. There are many, many good kids but the ones that get in trouble, the ones without good family to guide them, those are the ones that get the headlines. I know a homeschooling family with 6 kids and they are amazing people, the parents and all 6 of the children. I wish all children could be schooled outside of the public school system.
I think that’s where the Boy’s Club of America (later to become Boy’s and Girl’s Club) came in with a good thing. It was all about giving kids some direction and keeping them off the street especially in the inner cities. Every young person, especially when they’re approaching puberty, needs someone to talk to and provide guidance so in the absence of a father or mother figure, in many ways, the “club” seemed to fill that void in the lives of hundreds of inner city kids. I can’t say how many but I’m sure that there are several adults who can attest to how much the Boy’s Club helped them to achieve a certain amount of success in their lives.
Just had this stupid thought? What if you took a group of really really good moral Kids and put them in the camp would really really bad kids. They get a chance to mingle and play with no outside interference. Who would influence more? Will the good kids Learn bad habits or the bad kids get some good habits. I never agreed entirely with the book lord of the flies, I realized there's always a pecking order, I felt the book went to an extreme. Drugs are the biggest problem. I've seen good kids when I grew up in Brooklyn. Change because of their need of drugs..
Our local TV stations WBRE and WYOU started a segment that highlights exceptional kids doing good things for the community https://www.pahomepage.com/heres-to-you-kid/
But that "mingling" is simply society... the good and bad already mingle whether they choose to or not. This is why there are cliques and bullying behavior in schools; children are forced to co-mingle. Drugs are certainly part of the problem, but to me the breakdown of the family is a much larger issue. Children from unhappy abusive homes are more likely to turn to drugs. Of course there's no neat and tidy solution for any of it; some kids are raised in loving environments and still turn out to be hoodlums.
I'm aware of all that, however I was thinking in terms of no outside interference which direction would it turn the good turn to bad bad turn to good just a curiosity.
Seeing "good" kids is why we watch Little Britches Rodeo, Junior Rodeo, High School Rodeo and Collegiate Rodeo. All great kids that have parents that might professionally rodeo as well. Actually, their are high schools that will award a Rodeo Scholarship to a student to go to college on. And, watching high school students in 4-H and FFA showing livestock at local County Fairs is great also.
There are too many variables. Personality, character, IQ, race, sex and a couple of other things would have to assessed in order to establish a somewhat level playing field and one which the outcome could be trusted as factual.