I recently picked up a copy of David Yeager’s book, 10 to 25: The Science of Motivating Young People after reading a review that piqued my interest. The sub-sub-title of the book is “A Groundbreaking Approach to Leading the Next Generation–And Making Your Own Life Easier.” I’m fairly skeptical of anything that claims to be “groundbreaking,” but I am always looking for ways to make my own life easier. The review mentioned that a big focus of the book was about something called the “mentor mindset,” which was ultimately what pulled me in. 

I am nearly halfway through the book, and while there hasn’t yet been anything I’d consider groundbreaking, one of Yeager’s main theses has stuck with me. In building a foundation for the approach to working with young people that he calls the “mentor mindset,” he first describes research about how a fundamental need for humans in the 10-25 year age set is experiences of status and respect. He writes, 

Neuroscientists have shown that during puberty the brain becomes attuned to social status and respect. It craves socially rewarding experiences, sometimes even before the rest of the body has shown the other major signs of puberty…From the onset of puberty until we take on adult roles in society, we develop appetites for deeper and more meaningful experiences of respect–or, as the cultural anthropologists call it, earned prestige. (p. 9)

Again, this is not what I would call groundbreaking, but the way he frames this as a “core need” at the level similar to how food and sleep are core needs for a baby to develop and grow has helped me think differently about how we in the Church approach young people in our community. Young people want and need to experience feelings of status and respect from peers and mentors, earned through meaningful contributions to a community. 

The rest of the book (or at least what I’ve read so far) continues exploring this thread with stories and research to support the “mentor mindset” model, which in its simplest terms is a way of working with young people that holds together high expectations with high levels of support. The mentor mindset believes that young people are capable of doing great things (high expectations) if they have the resources they need (high support). 

We already do a number of things to encourage our young people to take on leadership within our congregation: recognizing their gifts during the Coming of Age, drawing them into worship roles, providing space for their feedback on important topics. Yet this book has encouraged me to think about how we can treat these opportunities as more than just cute one-off things but as real opportunities for our young people to earn the status and respect they crave through regular, sustained, and meaningful contributions within the life of our community. 

What high expectations or hopes do we hold for our young people? What great things do we think they are capable of? And how can we fully support them and walk alongside them to accomplish those things? 

When it comes to working with young people, there is never going to be one miracle fix for the challenges of adolescence. (Maybe that’s in the second half of the book. I’ll let you know…) But these questions and this book’s reframing inspire me to think in new ways about what is possible. If you are interested in walking alongside some young people and supporting them in more direct ways as we all wrestle with these questions and ideas, let me know.