Going from This to That

Two conversations happened yesterday that were not very earth-shattering, but got me to thinking.

In the first, I was talking to a group of middle school kids at the after school program we are currently beta-testing. We were talking about phobias.  I don’t remember how the converstation started, but I ended up asking what their phobias were.  One kid piped up saying he had “poor-a-phobia: the fear of being poor.”  Keep in mind this is the exact demographic we’re aiming at and reaching through this after school program.  I lead the conversation around to how to avoid being poor – getting a college degree that will enable you to get a good paying job, and learning money management skills.  We talked for a while about money management and what that meant since this was a new subject for them.

Later that night, my oldest daughter told me about a friend who just found out she’s pregnant.  Unfortunately, this wasn’t much of a surprise to me because I remember having a converstation with Sam about this particular friend and declaring that if things didn’t change, she would end up pregnant before graduation.  I’m not happy about being right.

So, the question is:  How do we go from “poor-a-phobic” teen pregnancy to college grads with good money management skills?  How do we teach kids the skills necessary to get them from this to that?  Or better yet, how do we get kids to see the importance of the skills that lead to college readiness and successful adult lives?  I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of seeing kids with so much potential take a detour down a road that leads to hardship and heartache.  Let’s work on this together…..maybe even by doing something, rather than just talking about it.