Reclaiming Our Prodigal Sons and Daughters

Reclaiming our Prodigal Sons and Daughters
Scott Larson and Larry Brendtro
National Education Service (2000)
Scott Larson and Larry Brendtro present a case for moving away from traditional ineffective approaches used in connecting with at-risk youth in order to implement more appropriate strategies with a particular focus on the spiritual, or heart, level of young people. This book is timely because many books written about programs and philosophies designed to impact troubled youth often bypass the importance of the spiritual development of adolescents. These authors clearly articulate strategies that are appropriately designed to address the multitude of complex youth development in our modern society.
The book is divided into two sections. The first section focuses on the problem, or what has gone wrong with wayward youth in modern society. The first chapter presents a new type of adolescent. According to the authors, “teenagers of the twenty-first century are worlds apart from the youth of a century earlier or from those being raised in more traditional cultures.” (5) This is because of three major shifts in our modern society: adolescents have become segregated from adults, they are being raised in a spiritual vacuum, and they are being nurtured by the media. In the second chapter the authors turn to the parable of the prodigal son, which “provides us with a fresh understanding of how we can reclaim wayward youth, regardless of the cause of their dilemma.” (11) The third, fourth, and fifth chapters focus on the brokenness in troubled adolescents, and the causes present in families, communities, and broader society which contribute to the brokenness.
The second section of the book focuses on fresh strategies that are needed to support the development of adolescents. The authors clearly outline the basic concepts of reclaiming troubled adolescents through reparenting, redirecting, reconciling, and redeeming. The reparenting concept was very strong, defined as “providing a youth who is not closely attached to adults with bonds to a positive adult.” (99) This represents the heart of mentoring, and the authors demonstrate the huge need for this type of mentoring because “contemporary society is faced with scores of underparented kids.” (99)
This was probably the most applicable book of any of the assigned readings for Overture I to my work with LAMP. I am a strong advocate for mentoring because I understand the unique power of individual relationships in supporting a wide variety of problems experienced by young people today. The authors outlined the need to develop courage in young people in order for them to thrive in society, and they said that “disadvantaged youths may actually have an advantage when it comes to developing the attribute of courage – as long as they have access to someone who can instill in them some of the essential building blocks for healthy development.” (72)
The principles presented by these authors are easily transferable, and I have already begun implementing these solid concepts in mentor training sessions, leadership team meetings, and monthly mentor meetings. I have experienced an overwhelming response to the need for these types of resources in providing ongoing support for mentors involved in working with all types of adolescents.