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Published in the Post/Independent Newspaper on July 10, 2010
Connect the Dots
By: Nancy MacGregor, YouthZone Case Manager
A few months ago our pastor talked about connecting the dots, using a child’s dot-to-dot picture as an example. Although he was referring to how the church is connected, I couldn’t help but think about how families are much the same. Each family member has their own individual dot, but together they can make up something extraordinary. The fun part of these puzzles is that you often can’t tell what the picture is without the lines drawn in. There is a mystery waiting to be solved. So it may be in a family, especially when there is difficulty going from one number to the next, to the next.
Our YouthZone motto is “Connect and Grow”. We are in the business of not only connecting with parents and youth, but helping you connect the dots in your family, and for some youth, connecting the dots in their life. We might support a young person through the hurdles of the court system, offer help to a parent overwhelmed by the many responsibilities of child rearing, or hook a child up with a guiding friend and mentor through our Pals program. And the intriguing part of our job is that we don’t always know what the puzzle will reveal either. We just know that drawing those lines is important. We also believe that every child and every parent has strengths. They have inner strengths such as caring, empathy, and generosity, and outer strengths like being artistic, athletic, or hard working. One of our goals is to help you and your child discover those strengths and build on them together. Yes there is strength in numbers too!
The staff at YouthZone continues to grow in our knowledge, experience, and as a team. To this end, one of our monthly rituals involves reading and listening to audio sessions which focus on how we as individuals are responsible for achieving our goals. These are personal as well as agency goals. As in a family, each person has something valuable to contribute. None of us are invisible, and the good news is that each family or team member can influence the group in a positive way. As a child or a parent moves forward in the process of personal development, they can move the entire family forward. Through parenting classes, Girls Circles and Boy’s councils, individual parent education, and Pals Mentoring, we can help get you moving in the right direction. It’s like being in the “Adventure Zone”, with the goal of connecting the dots one at a time, and seeing a surprising new picture emerge. Visit us at http://www.youthzone.com, or call 945-9300 in Glenwood or 625-3141 in Rifle. Lets look at your puzzle together, and don’t forget to bring the crayons!
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Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and help them become what they are capable of being. – Goethe
