How Your Child Can Become a Mentor

November 13 is World Kindness Day, a great occasion to encourage your kids to mentor other kids. Most people know that having a mentor is helpful for the person being mentored – the mentee or protégé. But mentoring is also good for the person who’s doing the mentoring – the mentor. Research shows that kids who help other kids improve their own leadership, organizational, and time management skills, become more self-confident and patient with others, and feel a strong sense of accomplishment and fulfillment.

If being a mentor is such a great thing, where can your kids go to do it?

National Mentoring Organizations

One possibility is to volunteer with the local chapter of well-known national mentoring organizations like Big Brothers Big Sisters of America or the National Mentoring Partnership. These organizations have formal programs that provide extensive training to anyone who wishes to be a mentor. However, their preference is for young adults aged 18 or older to serve as mentors.

Local Schools   

If your kids are younger than 18 or there’s no local chapter of a national mentoring organization near you, they can join a peer mentoring program at their local school. Most middle and high schools have mentoring programs that pair up kids from different grades (typically seniors with freshmen) during the school day or at their after-school programs. While national mentoring organizations tend to focus on developing the mentees’ general life skills, like how to focus on the positives in their lives and make productive choices, school-based programs typically focus on enhancing their academic skills, such as how to take better notes in class, how to organize their homework and how to prepare for exams. If your kids are strong academically, mentoring in a school-based mentoring program may be just right for them.   

Local Community Institutions

Another option is to find a mentoring program at your local community center or library that offers mentoring programs aimed at helping kids learn to read, write and do basic math. If no formal programs exist, some places allow kids to start up their own informal programs. If your kids aren’t afraid to roll up their sleeves and create a mentoring program with one or more of their friends, this could be a great leadership experience for them.

Private Mentoring

Finally, if your kids are very mature and independent-minded, nothing should stop them from creating and offering their own private mentoring program. If you know of neighborhood kids who could benefit from having positive role models in their lives, encourage your kids to meet up with them on a regular basis to serve as their mentors.

Mentoring isn’t only the right thing to do if you have what it takes; it can also help your kids in both the short and long term. Many middle and high schools have a community service component that requires them to volunteer for a certain amount of hours to graduate. Participating in an authorized mentoring program often satisfies that requirement. Your kids can also use any letters of recommendation that they receive about their mentoring activities as part of their college application. Virtually all colleges and universities across the country consider giving back to the community – especially helping other kids achieve their academic potential – a worthwhile goal and service through mentoring could be an asset during the admissions process.

Tanni Haas, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Communication Arts, Sciences and Disorders at the City University of New York – Brooklyn College.