7 Kinds of Visitors

After we had a wonderful time with some young adults from college in our home, our oldest daughter Susanna (age 9) penned the following words...

THERE ARE SEVEN KINDS OF VISITORS

1) Adults who you enjoy and are sad when they leave.
{This description fit who we had just seen.}

2) Adults who are fun for the first half hour and then get boring.

3) Adults who you have no idea what they are saying.

4) Kids who you enjoy and are sad when they leave.

5) Kids who are fun for the first half hour and then get boring.

6) Kids who you have no idea what they are saying.

7) Salespeople.


If I was smart, I would stop blogging right now and acknowledge that I will never be as good a writer as my precious preteen.

In addition to Jen and I laughing hysterically, I thought of how do students see me as a youth guy. Am I an adult that they "enjoy and are sad" when I leave? Am I building relationships or burning bridges (no slight to Project 86!)?

Should a person recommend a resource they've never read? I've always passed on titles that I've found especially engaging, i.e. "Here Am I, Lord. Send Aaron", so I won't stop now.

Jonathan McKee's book "Do They Run When They See You Coming?" came to mind after Susanna's insightful list. It speaks to this topic.

On the same note, how do you handle what one youth worker friend calls the "dance"? You know, the ways of speaking teen-ese without being seen as a poser. I especially remember about a year ago using "bounce" as in "I gotta bounce" (AKA "I see that it is time for me to depart" for my English major bride) with four teens and one of them didn't know me very well. The three that knew me didn't blink -- the one that didn't know me kind of smirked/laughed and said out loud, "He said, 'Bounce'."

Ahhh, the life of a youth worker...