Many adults in America and increasing numbers elsewhere (1) ...... part in mentoring
schemes. A mentor is an adult who provides support and friendship to a young person.
There are (2) ...... different (3) ...... of mentoring: passing on skills, sharing experiences, offering guidance. Sometimes the most (4) ...... thing to do is just listen. Mentoring is open to anybody – no particular (5) ...... experience is required, just a desire to make a (6) ...... to the life of a young person who needs help. This may seem a difficult thing at first, but many people find they have a real (7) ...... for it.
The support of a mentor can play an important (8) ...... in a child’s development and can often make up (9) ...... a lack of guidance in a young person’s life. It can also improve young people’s (10) ...... towards society and build up their (11) ...... in dealing with life’s challenges. For the mentor, it can be incredibly rewarding to know that they have had a significant (12) ...... on a child and helped to give them the best possible (13) ...... in life.
Indeed, it is not only adults who are (14) ...... of taking on this role. There is now an
increasing (15) ...... for teenagers to mentor younger children, for example by helping
them with reading or other school work.