The complete set of 198 Hints are available in paperback from the CYC-Net Press store.
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Kickstarting kidsKids usually measure themselves against the norms of their communities. They allow themselves quite wide latitude, and when they feel that they measure up reasonably close to the average (give or take two standard deviations, the statisticians might tell us) they will comment: "No sweat!"
This leaves the 5% of kids made up of the supercallifragilistics at the top end and the "also rans" at the bottom end of the distribution.
A good proportion of youth who come into our programs find themselves in this bottom group. For one reason or another, they are the developmentally slow, the experience deprived and the opportunity dispossessed. They missed out on the rich verbal milieu, the cognitive-socially enhanced environment and the tennis courts. What happens with kids like this is they end up inexperienced and unconfident, or they compensate with behaviour which is aggressive and over-confident.
What you and I do with these young people is to discover skills which they have and which they can build on, teach them new skills with which they can hold their own, and track down opportunities in the normal world (in their family, neighbourhood, school, community) where they can demonstrate their "averageness".
In our practice today we will discourage the dependency and self-defacement which says "I am no good" and the boasting and bullying with which they claim false superiority. We do this by acknowledging their small gains and their giant steps, by grouping them intelligently, and by progressively involving them in activities and participation in ever-widening circles, knowing that one day they will value some negotiable proficiencies in the real world.
It is for reasons like this that we think about our charges every day.
