A real life story taken from the book “Every Child Needs a Mentor”.

“As a parent of a child who had a mentor at secondary school, I would acknowledge how grateful I was that he came into my son’s life and had a positive impact on my child.

My son was given a mentor at school when he was going through a difficult time within the educational system, because he challenged authority and pushed the boundaries. What was so hard to bear was my son was an intelligent young man who was capable of achieving his dreams and aspirations, if he set his mind to putting in some work. Instead, he was contributing the bare minimum, which meant he often clashed with authority.

This resulted in frustration for me having to have a telephone conversation with his Year Head and me having to attend the school, which often made my son’s behaviour worse. When your child gets labeled as a troublemaker it’s hard for them to have confidence in their abilities and could result in low self-esteem.

When a mentor was suggested, I was more than willing to give this a try with my son’s consent, because if he didn’t want to take part there would be no point. I met the mentor and talked about my son and the problems he was experiencing. I felt confident that he had my son’s best interest at heart and would provide support and guidance. He kept me regularly updated on my son’s progress and I myself could see an improvement in his behaviour and his academic studies improved and his self-esteem and confidence were also boosted.

He used his experiences in a positive way to indirectly mentor his peers using his own knowledge and because they could relate to him quicker than the teachers.

He has further used these experiences and is now a mentor himself working with children who are at risk of being excluded from school”.

The power of mentoring cannot underestimated. The reality is children only have one chance in school and if they don’t use it well or are not support enough the after effects spill out into society and into their lives.

So where possible, in school or out of school if you can mentor or facilitate the experience for someone who could benefit from it, it could be life changing.

Happy Mentoring