Why can’t we all just get along?

If you are a Youth leader you must remember this statement from when it was made famous. Still, if you are in Youth leadership you must wonder at the truth to this. I have only been doing this a little while, but I’ve noticed that my Jr. High and Senior High kids just don’t get along. I’ve talked with other Youth leaders and this appears to be fairly universal.

I wish I had an answer to solve this issue, especially for smaller groups that can’t easily have a Jr. High service and a Sr. High service. Right now I’m on the edge of being able to have separate services, and that is a problem in and of itself. It turns out that Sr. High Youth don’t care for the Jr. High Youth, but the Jr. High Youth really want to be with the Sr. High Youth. They hate to be put into their own service. I think if it were always 2 different groups, then it wouldn’t be so bad, but they have waited to get into Youth and now I am saying that they are only halfway in Youth.

The thing I find funniest about the whole thing is talking with the Sr. High kids about why they don’t like the Jr. High kids around results in the answer, “they are so immature.” When confronted with the idea that they were once the same the response is, “I was never like that.” Of course, I also work with Young Adults and I can talk with them about my Sr. High Youth and get the real dirt. Yes, indeed the Young Adults always resented those immature kids coming into Youth and ruining all the super mature fun they were having.

If you have worked with Youth and eg is talking with the Sr. High kids about why they don’t like the Jr. High kids around results in the answer, “they are so immature.” When confronted with the idea that they were once the same the response is, “I was never like that.” Of course, I also work with Young Adults and I can talk with them about my Sr. High Youth and get the real dirt. Yes, indeed the Young Adults always resented those immature kids coming into Youth and ruining all the super mature fun they were having.

If you have worked with Youth and experienced this I’d love to hear how you tried to overcome. Logic and reason have no effect whatsoever, and neither does random acts of sarcasm. Those are my two go to tools, so I’m kind of at a loss.