Major breakthrough today! I've really been struggling to connect with Thomas, the 10-year-old boy I'm mentoring, mostly to no avail. It's really been eating at me and I didn't want to talk to his teachers or the counselor until I hit the wall (and I was getting pretty close). Kay and I had lunch today and I discussed it with her, guiltily confessing that I know he likes football, but I haven't been keeping up with the Sunday scores to discuss it with him. She suggested that I ask him what he thinks about Ryan Mallett, the Texans new quarterback. And I knew I had something to add to that because Mallett went to Arkansas. Okay, that was a start. Then when I came home I googled "questions for kids." I found some great ones and decided to start with the basics... favorite color, animal, etc.  I printed two sets so we could interview each other. Sheer genius!

First I started by asking him what he thought about the Texans. His face just lit up as he started explaining excitedly that he was at the game Sunday and was shown on the big screen. I asked what he was doing and he showed me how he was cheering. It was a perfect start. Then on to the questions and it was a home run. We talked about both of our answers as we went along and I learned a lot more about him. I now have a deep well to draw from, although we can't do this every week, but it was a great start. Now I can't wait to see him next week. Yee haw!