July Assets

July

Asset of the Month

Adult Role Models

Young Eyes Are Watching You.
Sometimes adults do things they aren't proud of - swear, watch too much television, argue. Making mistakes is understandable, but remember, young people look up to adults. They see you - especially if you're a parent - as the type of person they want to become someday. They want heroes. That's why it's so important to be the best person you can be. Adult Role Models is Asset 14 of Search Institute's 40 Developmental Assets; the qualities, experiences, and relationships that help young people grow up healthy, caring, and responsible.

Here are the facts
Research shows that young people are more likely to exhibit positive, responsible behavior when they have parents and other adults in their lives who model positive, responsible behavior. Having good role models is one of the greatest desires of most young people. However, only 27 percent of young people, ages 11-18, say their parents and other adults model positive, responsible behavior, according to Search Institute surveys. Let's all try a little harder to "practice what we preach."
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Harnessing the power of extensive research on developmental assets--the essential building blocks for human development--the alliance partners of the Search Institute, YMCA USA and YMCA Canada, have developed a holistic, systematic approach to improving young peoples' lives that involves the entire community.

The Rye YMCA believes Building Assets will help us in our goal of building strong kids, strong families and strong communities. Whether you have children or not, we hope you'll join us in our efforts to make a difference in the lives of young people. Every month we'll send you one of the 40 Developmental Assets in this newsletter. Read it over, think about it, act on it - make a difference!