USA (MNN)–It’s a well known fact that the challenges facing the average middle school student come sooner than they did for their parents.
Young Life’s Shelley Sadler says that’s what Wyldlife is all about. “To be willing to stay in a kid’s life through their adolescent years is really, really important. Many times, kids are feeling very deeply at the age of middle school, but they simply don’t know how to articulate or express those feelings, so they just need to have somebody around.”
Sadler says Wyldlife exists because kids are growing up too fast and caught in the awkward stage between childhood and adulthood. It’s an especially volatile time for the adolescent who may not have good role models.
While not a mentoring program specifically, Sadler says that plays a role outside of the Wyldlife group setting. “We enter their world, spend time with them outside of school outside of the Wyldlife club meetings we go tot heir concerts, their sporting events, we go to the mall, we’re trying to reach kids relationally, with the love of Christ, in a way that maybe they’ve never experienced before.”
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