"Necessity is the mother of invention," but some series are born of requests.
Our Youths & Families Series began following three requests: (1) We were asked to create Character Curriculum for high schoolers. (2) After delivering a series of dinner keynotes entitled Silver Linings of Service for beleaguered federal employees on topics including Engagement, Dignity, Character, Integrity, Impact, Legacy, and Peace, we were invited to provide the same keynote for youths in their local communities. (3) In 2018-2019, we were approached several times to come and speak with teens in local high schools through a program we alternatively called Life Skillz, Freebird, and Springboard on what they call "adulting" skills, chief among them the sorts one would have historically acquired at home or in Home Economics or Family Studies (and in one particular instance, US Government & Civics) at school. Such skills include Home Skills (laundry, grocery shopping, organization, lighting a pilot light, unclogging a drain, changing a fuse, basic car maintenance), Relationship Skills (beyond social media to meaningful friendships, listening, negotiating, reading body language, empathizing, resolving conflicts), Physical & Mental Health (eating, exercising, managing emotional, psychological, and social well-being), Time Management, Study Skills, Financial Skills (budgeting, balancing a checkbook, credit scores, insurance, investing, saving, shopping), Job Skills (social media account management/self-awareness, résumé writing, interviewing, customer service, negotiating a raise, work/life balance), and Citizenship (understanding government, the rule of law, paying taxes, voting, military service considerations, serving on a jury, etc.)
As a result of these requests and subsequent work, we now slot our curricula into three programs: Adulting, Broken Boomerang, and Man Up.
Adulting and Man Up are available now. Broken Boomerang arrives in 2022.