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Health & Fitness

Sprinklers in the Rain

Caring Adults are kind of like sprinklers in the rain. A mentor is one who makes sure that a young person is totally saturated with what they need to be successful.

I always chuckle when I see sprinklers in the rain.  Maybe I am amused by the sight of water going up meeting water going down.  Maybe I’m considering the time spent programming a sprinkler doesn’t factor in the “nature” variable.  Maybe it is a chuckle of dismay at wasted water.  Anyways, sprinklers in the rain amuse me.

Young people need sprinklers too.

Sure, we have things that happen naturally, like falling rain, in our society which help our kids grow.  We have family structures; we have schools; we have faith communities; we have a government that provides stability.  These things, like rain, fall predictably to “water” our youth and grow a garden of society where each stands on fertile ground to serve a purpose and be admired.  Ideally the rain should fall evenly and all would thrive.

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But we know that the rain sometimes misses.  It misses gardens and it misses young people.

We know that after a thorough drenching, there always seems to be a  section of the garden drier than the rest, a section that isn’t thriving.  We also know that there are youth who fall behind – are not thriving – even those standing in the same rain as their more successful peers.

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Caring Adults are kind of like sprinklers in the rain.  A mentor is one who makes sure that a young person is totally saturated with what they need to be successful.  There is no way you can over-water a child; you cannot provide too much education; you cannot provide too much good nutrition; you cannot provide too many safe places; and you cannot provide too many opportunities.  What adults do as sprinklers to augment the rain may seem superfluous, yet the efforts will make the garden amazing.

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