On this page, I’ll be sharing knowledge and news about youth mentoring.
I’ll draw from my personal experiences as mentor, from my knowledge of the science of mentoring, and from my opportunities to serve as a consultant to mentoring organizations such as Big Brothers Big Sisters.
There’s so much we have to learn about mentoring before we can say with confidence that it is an evidence-based prevention strategy. We know that mentoring can have positive impacts on the lives of some youth, but we struggle to understand how that happens, for whom, and how to make those outcomes bigger and more consistent.
Youth mentoring can take many different forms: long-term and community based; short-term and school-based; group mentoring; natural mentoring, youth-initiated mentoring, team mentoring, family/network-engaged mentoring. It’s exciting to consider the possibilities that flow from this rich array of strategies.
My goal will be to support the practice of youth mentoring, to share the science of youth mentoring, and to challenge current theories of youth mentoring.
I’ll tell stories about my role as a mentor and time with my mentee, I’ll discuss interesting studies about mentoring, and I’ll share news and events from the world of mentoring. It should be fun!
Child’s Play: What to Give Christmas Morning
For most children, the magic of Christmas is waking to find new toys and games, each one offering the promise of sheer joy and hours of fun. Much is written each year about which toys [...]
Love of the Father: Faith & Family Collide
Several years ago I sat on a plane next to a man who looked to be a bit older than me. In his lap was a thick manuscript. We greeted each other and I asked [...]
The Least Used, Most Useful Line in Parenting (or Mentoring)
Try this the next time your children come to you with a complaint or a problem that isn’t completely outside of their ability to solve: Listen without interrupting, take a moment to acknowledge their emotional [...]
Erin’s Way
The anniversary of my mother’s death is just before Thanksgiving, so at this time of the year my thoughts go to her—Erin McLavy Cavell. On the day she died, we drove to Louisiana for the [...]
A Fable about How to Be with Those We Love
In a study done over 30 years ago, researchers pulled first graders from different classrooms and had them interact in a new play group several days in a row. Selected were children who well liked [...]
Serving the Children of Military Parents
About five years ago, I approached some colleagues with the idea that school-based mentoring (SBM) was a good fit for children from military families. Researchers were learning that multiple and prolonged combat deployments were having [...]
