The three weeks that LAUSD has off for holiday break can be long ones for our Kids Hope kids. While mentors holidays are typically filled with joy and good cheer, they can be emotionally stressful for our students. A great deal of emphasis is put on "family" during the holidays which can alienate children from broken families. School routines that bring structure and comfort to some of our students are often broken. This can be disorienting. Many children experience grief instead of celebration; family stress can increase, hunger becomes a reality (without school meals), and presents/gifts may be scarce. Mentors who make the effort to connect during this time often reap benefits that carry over into the classroom.
One of our new mentors who started with her student this fall, arranged with the little girls parents to get together with her over the break. She asked the parent where she could take her student for dinner, and the dad mentioned his daughter loves cheeseburgers with extra pickles. The mentor picked her student up and went to the park, after a while she said to her student “How about we go get some cheeseburgers with extra pickles”. This little six-year-olds face lit up and she joyfully exclaimed "You know me so well" with her fist in the air!! Imagine if every child felt known and loved and seen in this way — we would have a different world.
As the mentor relayed this story to me she mentioned how it had caused her to reflect on God’s heart for us…that he too wants good things for us and indeed “knows us so well”. I love how God works in both the lives of kids AND mentors through Kids Hope.
