We are trying to get our oldest son into VoTech and MAN has it gotten harder since I was in HS. There are applications and open houses and...it seems designed to keep people like my son out because executive functionality is damn hard for him.
This resonated with me on so many levels. As a young man, vo-tec was part of my middle school experience. It engaged me in a way that academics never did. I then apprenticed in a repair shop. An older gentleman there mentored me in both my vocation and my life and helped me stay on course to become a successful adult. I never forgot being mentored and as a result, I became a mentor to young men in foster care for 8 years. That program ended. Now I'm retired would really like to engage again. There is a local vo-tec school. I've approached the headmaster repeatedly to be a volunteer tutor but to no avail. In this day and age, I understand the reticence of accepting cold-calling volunteers, but there should be more on-ramps for Boomers to mentor young men.
Great post Al - I too was a vo-tec kid who grew up in a house full of power tools and was mentored. I went to work for Boeing. Todays boys have fewer mentors and less access to these resources. Even many high school chemistry labs are now online simulators. I hope you find a local opportunity for mentoring - it is profoundly satisfying. I’ve been a Big Brother in Big Brothers, Big Sisters and on the technical side coached FIRST Robotics. Also hugely rewarding is Young Eagles getting kids their first flights in small aircraft. At our little airport many kids get out of a plane and suddenly find science interesting. You don’t need to be a pilot to help.
Thanks for being a Big Brother. I never understood why the Manosphere cries about men and boys all the time but never does anything for them, like BBBS or fostering or adopting boys or just volunteering at a men's homeless shelter.
If anything I’m thankful for what I get back. I also did SMART reading where you go to an elementary school and read to a kid once a week for an hour. I was the only man there out of 20 women. I’d walk into a kindergarten and get 10 feet before I couldn’t walk because a dozen boys had wrapped themselves around my legs - few had men at home. Then there are men like this who are doing the work and too busy to analyze it:
" I’d walk into a kindergarten and get 10 feet before I couldn’t walk because a dozen boys had wrapped themselves around my legs"
So sweet. I think small kids pick up on pheromones or just "vibes". And they need, or at least like, the pheromones and vibes from both sexes. Or else they were picking up on an energy or pheromones unique to you that they felt good about.
It was sweet and sad as these were boys in many cases who deeply and desperately missed their fathers. (Also I’m 6’5” so most kindergarteners assume I’m an NBA star. 🤣)
so a program that helps men but has no impact on women has trouble being accepted because it doesn't help women?
In my mind, thats fine - helping one group at no expense to the other is an unmitigated good. There's no downside to implenying it.
We are trying to get our oldest son into VoTech and MAN has it gotten harder since I was in HS. There are applications and open houses and...it seems designed to keep people like my son out because executive functionality is damn hard for him.
Love that last sentence, Richard!
This resonated with me on so many levels. As a young man, vo-tec was part of my middle school experience. It engaged me in a way that academics never did. I then apprenticed in a repair shop. An older gentleman there mentored me in both my vocation and my life and helped me stay on course to become a successful adult. I never forgot being mentored and as a result, I became a mentor to young men in foster care for 8 years. That program ended. Now I'm retired would really like to engage again. There is a local vo-tec school. I've approached the headmaster repeatedly to be a volunteer tutor but to no avail. In this day and age, I understand the reticence of accepting cold-calling volunteers, but there should be more on-ramps for Boomers to mentor young men.
Can you try at your library? Start a borrow a grandad program? 😃
My boys would love that. Especially if your library has a maker space
An excellent idea. I might try it.
Great post Al - I too was a vo-tec kid who grew up in a house full of power tools and was mentored. I went to work for Boeing. Todays boys have fewer mentors and less access to these resources. Even many high school chemistry labs are now online simulators. I hope you find a local opportunity for mentoring - it is profoundly satisfying. I’ve been a Big Brother in Big Brothers, Big Sisters and on the technical side coached FIRST Robotics. Also hugely rewarding is Young Eagles getting kids their first flights in small aircraft. At our little airport many kids get out of a plane and suddenly find science interesting. You don’t need to be a pilot to help.
Thanks for being a Big Brother. I never understood why the Manosphere cries about men and boys all the time but never does anything for them, like BBBS or fostering or adopting boys or just volunteering at a men's homeless shelter.
If anything I’m thankful for what I get back. I also did SMART reading where you go to an elementary school and read to a kid once a week for an hour. I was the only man there out of 20 women. I’d walk into a kindergarten and get 10 feet before I couldn’t walk because a dozen boys had wrapped themselves around my legs - few had men at home. Then there are men like this who are doing the work and too busy to analyze it:
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/10/14/us/peter-mutabazi-foster-dad-charlotte-cec/index.html
" I’d walk into a kindergarten and get 10 feet before I couldn’t walk because a dozen boys had wrapped themselves around my legs"
So sweet. I think small kids pick up on pheromones or just "vibes". And they need, or at least like, the pheromones and vibes from both sexes. Or else they were picking up on an energy or pheromones unique to you that they felt good about.
It was sweet and sad as these were boys in many cases who deeply and desperately missed their fathers. (Also I’m 6’5” so most kindergarteners assume I’m an NBA star. 🤣)