For kids only

Dear kids,

A few months ago, many of you answered written questions about yourselves, your families and your towns.

Your answers say that you are looking forward to the future. That’s good. What’s not good is that most of you—more than 70 percent--said you do not feel valued by the community.

The community is going to search for ways to let you know you’re important, but we thought we could start by telling you.

It’s easy for a kid to feel lost or unimportant. Adults are often so busy they forget about things—like listening. Or playing. Or telling kids they are important.

When you’re a kid, it’s hard to tell what adults really think. Adults speak a secret language kids don’t understand. Here is a list to help you make sense of it.

"Do your homework." Translation: "We care about you and want your life to be good."

"Don’t be rude." Translation: "We want others to like you, because we know you’re really neat and we want you to live surrounded by good friends."

"Don’t do that to your_____ (fill in the blank)." Translation: "We don’t want others to treat you unfairly because of the way you look, because we know you’re a nice person."

"I’ll pick you up after school, so don’t be late." Translation: "We want you to be safe and warm. We worry about you."

"Don’t get involved in sex, drugs or alcohol." Translation: "We are afraid for you. There are things that can hurt you. We can’t always make it better. We want to keep you alive."

"Do your best." Translation: "No one is perfect. That’s OK."

What do adults really think? We think you are amazing, smart and good looking—even when you do dumb things. We think you are the most valuable things on the whole planet. You are every wish ever made on every star in the sky.

So, there.