Adults’ Real Relationships with Young People

Abstract

Most young people are not bereft of positive interactions with their parents and other adults in the extended family, or with adults such as teachers, after-school program leaders, and youth workers in religious congregations. Obviously, all these adults, to varying degrees, can and do play positive roles in young people’s development, and playing these roles is the job of these adults. It is clearly codified in law, regulations, and social expectations that families and adults in the formal institutions that kids frequent—schools, youth programs, congregations—have a measure, usually a high degree, of responsibility for the well-being of those young people in their charge. More recently, the role of one- on-one mentor to a young person has emerged as a possibility for many adults. As welcome as those mentoring relationships are, however, they too are usually formal ones, offered within the structure of a program or organization. They also tend to be provided mainly to young people perceived as being at risk, not those basically doing “OK” but who could benefit from more sustained adult relationships.