It is said that: “It takes a village to raise a child,” and for Craig Thompson, a father of six from Tennessee, that adage became a reality when he created a program called 52 Godly Mentors for his children.
The idea came to him one night when he couldn’t sleep; he started thinking about his eldest son’s coming 13th birthday, an age that in many cultures marks the passage from childhood to adulthood. While he was thinking and praying about it, the idea of finding godly men to teach his child came to mind.
“What I needed to give my son for his birthday was the opportunity to meet with men from all walks of life who were of noble character,” he said in an interview with The Epoch Times. “Men who would talk with him not just about business or money or investing, but who would share wisdom about life itself.”
He began writing down the names of potential mentors for his firstborn, David, with the idea of proposing that they spend one day with his son to teach him some skill or life lesson. As they started to respond, he began scheduling one mentor per week, beginning on the week of David’s 13th birthday. His goal was to schedule 52 mentors over 52 weeks so his son would have a whole year of mentoring.
Picking the Right Mentors
In selecting the mentors for each of his children, Thompson puts a lot of thought and effort into considering what it means to become a man or a woman, as he knows that finding good mentors can be vital in helping his children grow into adults who live godly lives.
Another question Thompson asks himself is: What can this person individually teach his child about life, God, and work? He seeks diversity so there is a breadth of knowledge, experience, and age among the mentors he selects.
Growing With Guidance
Thompson acknowledges that sometimes his children will connect with a mentor and will form connections that last, and other times they don’t. That is all part of the experience, he says. He also acknowledges that the experience doesn’t need to be perfect to be a success.“One of the easily overlooked benefits that children gain from spending time with mentors is discovering what they definitely do not want to do in the future,” Thompson said. “We still laugh about the day one of my daughters spent in an office environment with a clerical worker. She was so bored with the job that she saw, but it made an impression on her that she never, ever wanted to end up working at a job like that.”
On the flip side, Thompson said, these mentors and experiences have also helped his children identify their strengths.
His son David had a mentor who was an editor at a newspaper and thought it would be a fun experience to give the boy a chance at editing.
“When he actually began to catch spelling and grammatical errors, their eyes widened as their missed errors were fast approaching the looming print deadline,” Thompson said. “David has related that this was the first time he realized that he could actually be paid for something that he was good at and enjoyed. He later served as an editor for a regional publication and has edited several books for me and other organizations.”
As he reflects on his own family’s experiences with the mentoring program, in addition to the families he has coached through it, Thompson said, “As parents, it’s gratifying to know that our children are getting a world-class education in the principles of life, business, family, relationships, and many other topics.”
Thompson said mentoring gives young people a renewed sense of purpose and direction in their lives. “At the base level, we have seen that this year of mentoring delivers a reproducible maturation in each of the children who have gone through it,” he said. “Unlike many of the other youth who are in the 13 to 14 year age group, the children who have gone through this mentoring program begin to think about life and their future in a new way.”
With another of his daughters approaching her 13th birthday, he hopes her mentors will give her experiences that will help her grow into a woman who fulfills her potential. He wants her to make lifelong bonds and learn that she doesn’t need to be a “carbon copy of her mother” in order to be a good and godly woman.
Since making his first mentoring program, Thompson has written several books and guided many parents in finding mentors for their children.
“If you are not intentional in mentoring your children with godly men and women, know that the world system will provide plenty of mentors to corrupt your children,” he said. “Do something positive, and commit to making a start in your own family.”
