Likewise, we celebrate athletic achievements. We are particularly good at affirming youngsters' accomplishments at the extreme, and such achievements naturally lead us to engage those kids in dialogue about what they have accomplished. Further, for every exceptional achiever, there are numerous less celebrated, even overlooked or ignored kids. And they matter, too. I have learned over the years that first impressions are more influenced by my own expectations than by the actuality of the young person I am engaging.
Young adolescents know they are changing.
They have to make many adjustments as they move from childhood toward adulthood and confront physical, emotional, and social changes. They speculate a lot privately about what is going on. Some of them are afraid of it all, and self-confidence is especially vulnerable. Kids worked on farms and in factories and shops, and we know they were often grievously exploited because they could work long hours for little pay without rebelling against adult authority. Leaders of that time responded to that form of child abuse with laws to protect them, and that was without doubt the right thing to do.