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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nisarg" data-source="post: 1732035" data-attributes="member: 19893">Mentoring someone younger is always a fine idea in principle. Adolescents especially need adult non-parental role models, and in western culture this often ends up lacking, and being substituted for being stuffed in confined spaces with hundreds of their own age-group, just about the worst thing you can do psychologically as far as the maturing process goes (short of abuse).I more or less mentored my younger brother (he's a decade younger than me) in this way...In practice, the problem is that western society also looks at most interactions between adults and adolescents with a lot of suspicion, so unless its your kid brother, or best friend's kid, or nephew or something like that, you have to be very very cautious about not ending up creating the wrong impression.Here in Uruguay, the culture is different and there's less paranoia about that sort of thing.  Also, the gamer culture here centers around a gaming club called Botch!, which has members ranging in age from about 12 to about 50. One thing I saw in north america was that usually you don't get a huge age range in any single gaming group; a group might have 14-18 year olds, another might have 18-22 year olds, another 22-35 year olds, etc etc. but rarely will you see a 14 year old at the same gaming table as a 35 year old.  Here, in Botch!, you do, and I think that helps the younger gamers develop (both socially and as gamers), and the older gamers get a shot of youthful vitality, the chance to teach something, and reminded that RPGs are supposed to be about having fun.So, consider that maybe one of the best ways to "mentor" in a way that will cover your own ass is in the group context of your gaming table.  Consider inviting that 14 year old to try playing at your gaming table at the FLGS, you might just be surprised at the results.Nisarg</blockquote>

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