Tell a Young Person They’re Special This Week
Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes
Lead Consultant and Editor
By Rachel Sams
Young people in 2023 face many of the same risks young people faced 20, 50, or 100 years ago, plus a lot more.
Children have faced bullies since the beginning of time; now, hateful messages can take more paths behind the anonymity of screens. Teenagers often struggle with isolation and loneliness; three years of a global pandemic heightened those struggles.
Many nonprofit risk professionals work with children in the context of programming activities. Others serve on boards of nonprofits that work with kids. And, of course, many interact with kids every day as parents, grandparents, mentors, volunteers, and much more.
Young people might not always share their struggles with adults. But in a world where it’s challenging to grow up, it’s important to reach out to the kids in your lives and let them know they matter, and you’re there if they need help.
One opportunity to do that comes this week, with Absolutely Incredible Kid Day, which falls on the third Thursday of March. This year, that’s March 16.
Founded by the national youth development organization Camp Fire in 1997, Absolutely Incredible Kid Day is a call to action to tell a young person in your life why they matter. You can send a note, email, letter, text, or video to encourage and inspire a young person you care about. The goal: tell a young person “You’re incredible, and here’s why.”
This day has a special resonance for us at NRMC, as our Executive Director Melanie Lockwood Herman recently served on the Camp Fire board. Read a post she wrote in 2018 about Absolutely Incredible Kid Day.
If you want to learn more about the mental health risks young people face and how to build a strong community to support youth, check out our article on this topic, from the Youth Protection issue of our Risk Management Essentials publication.
There’s no bad day to tell a kid they’re amazing, but March 16 is an especially good one.
Rachel Sams is a Consultant and Staff Writer for the Nonprofit Risk Management Center. She remembers adolescence as tough—even without the isolation of a global pandemic. Contact her with questions or comments about this article at rachel@nonprofitrisk.org or 505.456.4045.
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