April is an exciting month for Polished Pebbles Girls Mentoring Program. On April 12, They’re All the Same Girl, written by our founder Kelly Fair, was launched and is now available to you! To celebrate this huge milestone, we will be featuring an excerpt from the book each week on the blog.
This week’s excerpt comes from the chapter titled, “Youth Development in the Black Community”.
One of the things I enjoy most about working with youth is their honesty. If your outfit or hairdo is cute, they’ll let you know by giving you a compliment. If it’s not, they’ll let you know that too! Choose to tell a little white lie to kids and think you’ll be able to get away with it? NOT!! Kids will gladly inform you if they think you are being dishonest, or not keeping your word. After thirteen years of experience working in education, I know will surely help you get on the fast track of being accountable and transparent in your work ethic and quality of service delivery. Perviously, when I worked with other youth programs, there were times that the same activities and curriculum were recycled from year to year, and used with the same children. And, guess what? The kids recognized it and swiftly informed us that they knew we were using old materials, and they were not pleased. Sometimes, they told us. But sometimes they communicated it in other ways such as appearing to be bored, disengaged, and more interested in misbehaving.
-They’re All the Same Girl (pg. 32)
Our youth are incredibly intelligent and intuitive. They know when someone is fully invested in them and their dreams. If they feel any sense of dishonesty or insincerity, they will show it. Like the excerpt says, “Sometimes they told us. But sometimes they showed it in other ways…” There are no bad kids, simply kids who don’t always make the best decisions. And sometimes (maybe most of the time) these bad decisions are a call for help, for attention, for support–simply for someone to be there. Don’t take misbehavior at face value.
Every child deserves to know that there is someone willing to help them learn and grow. A part of that is giving our youth a new and fresh curriculum that they can learn from and enjoy. Our youth are willing to learn, with the proper curriculum and guidance we can shape them into great leaders.
With They’re All The Same Girl Kelly Fair delivers turn-key tactics and shares insight on successfully garnering support from volunteers, schools, civic and corporate partners. The book offers personal testimonies from volunteers, program staff and candid community conversations that will prepare aspiring social entrepreneurs, and your organization, to build a generation of girls on the path to personal and professional success!
Interested in purchasing They’re All the Same Girl? Click here…
