Out of the Mouth of Babes "Our Future Leaders"
Welcome to "Out of the Mouth of Babes: Our Future Leaders" with Kevin Handley Sr.!
In this enlightening and empowering podcast, we delve into the minds of the next generation—the brilliant and dynamic youth who hold the keys to our collective future. Join our host, Kevin Handley Sr., as he takes us on an inspiring journey through conversations with young visionaries, activists, innovators, and changemakers from around the world.
Each episode of "Out of the Mouth of Babes" brings you candid and thought-provoking interviews with these remarkable young individuals who are making a significant impact in their communities and beyond. From tackling pressing global issues to spearheading innovative projects, these youth leaders are reshaping the world as we know it.
Kevin Handley Sr., a seasoned and compassionate host, skillfully uncovers the stories behind these young achievers, delving into their motivations, challenges, and the transformative experiences that have shaped their journeys. Listeners will be inspired by the depth of insight and wisdom these young guests possess, proving that age is no barrier to effecting meaningful change.
Whether you're a parent, educator, community member, or simply passionate about youth-driven initiatives, "Out of the Mouth of Babes: Our Future Leaders" offers a unique platform to learn, engage, and celebrate the voices of the youth. Together, we can gain valuable perspectives and support the aspirations of these incredible young leaders, nurturing a brighter and more inclusive tomorrow.
Join us as we amplify the voices of the youth and discover the extraordinary potential that lies within "Out of the Mouth of Babes: Our Future Leaders" with Kevin Handley Sr. Be ready to be moved, motivated, and inspired!
Out of the Mouth of Babes "Our Future Leaders"
S1 EP 1 PT1 - 053124 - Unmasking the Illusion of Friendship
Have you ever wondered how to spot a true friend amidst a sea of fair-weather companions? Join us as we unravel the complexities of youthful friendships with our insightful guests, Avril Newsome and Kevin L. Handley Jr., on this episode of "Out of the Mouth of Babes." Avril and Kevin Jr. bring their candid experiences to light, sharing what makes a friendship thrive—support, reciprocity, and unwavering loyalty. They bravely discuss the challenges of encountering envious or attention-seeking peers and help us identify the telltale signs of fake friends. Through their stories, we explore how friendships evolve as we transition through life's stages, and why surrounding ourselves with the right people is crucial to our mental health.
Our conversation takes a thoughtful turn as we explore the impact of literature on understanding friendship and mental well-being. Together, we reflect on influential works like "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" and "No Longer Human," uncovering valuable insights into mental health struggles and the necessity of a supportive network. Inspired by the profound wisdom inherent in youth, as suggested by the podcast’s namesake, we also delve into the essence of self-sacrifice in true friendships. Join us for an enriching dialogue on the power of genuine connections, and walk away with a renewed appreciation for the role of friendship in navigating life's complexities.
Welcome to Out of the Mouth of Babes weekly podcast by Kevin Hanley.
Speaker 1:Today, we will discuss several things with our youth. This podcast is based on the struggles and intricacies of our youth. What do they struggle with? What is their perspective of our youth? What do they struggle with? What is their perspective? You know, as a father, a teacher, a mentor, even I have struggled with listening to our youth. Now it's time to change. This podcast is all about them. In this podcast, we will discuss topics that our youth are interested in and try to come up with solutions that will assist them in their progress. And try to come up with solutions that will assist them in their progress. Each week we will have special guests, book topics and, from time to time, discuss things going on in society. Our listeners will get a behind-the-scenes look into the choices that our youth are making from their perspective.
Speaker 1:Welcome to Out of the Mouth of Babes. Again, I am Kevin Hanley, your host, and we will start off by introducing two of the brightest young folks that I have come across in a long period of time. I'm going to have them introduce themselves first and last name and something that they're interested in and something unique about them. Starting off with the young lady in the middle. My name is Avril Newsom. I'm a freshman. Last name and something that they're interested in and something unique about them, starting off with the young lady in the middle my name is avril newsome.
Speaker 2:I'm a freshman. I think something interesting about me is that I'm willing to learn.
Speaker 1:Um, I really like to write and read so next up young man to the far.
Speaker 3:My name is Kevin Jr. I am 18. I'm a junior in high school. I would say something I'm interested in or have a passion about is probably science. It's one of my favorite topics. It's definitely a favorite for me.
Speaker 1:All righty, so welcome. So first of all, in this particular session, episode one, we're going to talk about friends and what does it mean to be a friend. So I am going to first start off with. Either one of you can speak. What do you think friendship means and how?
Speaker 2:do you think a healthy friendship should look? I think a healthy friendship is definitely supporting your friends Overall, just being like a good person, you know, just sticking by their side, helping them when they need support. You know, helping them with their passions and hopefully they're reciprocating the energy.
Speaker 1:Same question sir.
Speaker 3:I think good friendships are based on I got your back, you got mine. I mean, that's kind of it. It's, like Avril said, a reciprocal thing If I'm going to show you support and love, I expect those things to be returned.
Speaker 2:Exactly Someone you can laugh with and, you know, just be like a true friend to you.
Speaker 1:Do you guys feel like you have those quality friends?
Speaker 3:Yes, I do. You got a few, a few fair weather, a few people that are down.
Speaker 2:There's never really a lot of them, but as long as you have a few, at least one, it definitely helps a lot.
Speaker 1:All right, so you know, as you guys mentioned, that within your friendships there's some positives and negatives. What are some red flags in friendships that you guys have seen?
Speaker 2:Definitely I think you have to. It's hard finding like your true friends. So like when you're going through that you know phase, trying to find your right friends, people who are like fake to you, you know. People who kind of just play in your face, you know lie to you, kind of just want you for attention, people who are envious of you that's definitely one that I've had. You know. Friends who just kind of want to be you, be in your position instead of helping you with your passions and helping you succeed. They want to be in your place instead of, you know, rooting you on. They're kind of malicious towards you.
Speaker 1:What about you, sir?
Speaker 3:Speaking on what I said earlier, like being a fair weather friend, meaning people really are only around whenever things are going fair for you and things are looking good, but when you're in a hard position or you're in a bad spot, they're nowhere to be found, and that's a real big red flag for me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're never checking up on you. You know making sure you're okay. I think if you're a true friend, you're going to stick it out no matter what. You know making sure you're okay. I think if you're a true friend you're going to stick it out, no matter what.
Speaker 3:You know, you're always going to be there for them and they'll notice those subtle changes in your life that are affecting you negatively and be there for you, and if they're not, that's not really your friend Definitely.
Speaker 1:So you guys have had, you know, a lot of friendships and you guys are all parts of organizations and and um sports teams and um in school.
Speaker 2:what um are some, what give me some characteristics of some healthy friendships um, I think definitely people who are supportive, loving, um, reciprocal, if that makes sense really just loving, caring, charismatic, compassionate, just someone who's going to be there for you and watch you grow as a human and hopefully that can be a lifelong friend, someone who has got your back.
Speaker 3:I think you said an example or things that exhibit those healthy friendships. Speaking of what Avra said about growth not just somebody who watches you grow but takes part in that growth and doesn't let you slip back into old habits or bad habits that don't let you grow in the way that you want to.
Speaker 2:Exactly they help you flourish. Mm-hmm, Don't let you grow in the way that you want to.
Speaker 3:Exactly they help you flourish.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm. Now, as time has changed, how has your friendships have changed? How have they grown? Have you moved to new seasons of your life with friends?
Speaker 2:I think definitely like if you have friends, like when you're younger, you're going to outgrow them. You know You're going to grow up and that's fine. You don't always have to label them as a fake friend. You guys just outgrow each other and you found new things. Everyone's figuring stuff out, so that happens definitely. I think like it's kind of tricky to say I just think you're just growing. I mean, I'm not friends with people I was friends with two years ago, five years ago.
Speaker 3:I have my friends now and that's fine and I might outgrow them too, and that's fine, I think so I believe that when time changes, so does people, and so when people change, sometimes it's not always good, sometimes it's kind of bad, and when those people make those changes that you see, that you're not very fond of, then, like Avril said, you outgrow them. Or maybe they're even fake, and you don't outgrow them, you have to forcibly remove them from your life.
Speaker 2:I think also, like you know, A lot of the times it is you're negatively outgrowing them, but sometimes it can be peaceful. You can just be like, hey, I want to be over here, you want to be over there. I wish you well, I hope you succeed. You know I've seen you grow this far and you know I just can't continue on with you. We're going to separate parts of our lives.
Speaker 1:So one of the things that I was told as a child you show me your friends and I'll show you your future. What do you guys think about that concept?
Speaker 2:definitely your affiliate, like you are who you're affiliated with. I heard that a lot. I heard you are who you be with, type thing you know. So if you're with the wrong crowd, that kind of makes you the wrong crowd, which sometimes that's not the case. But so if you're with bad people you're probably not going to have a very bright future. If you're with people who are encouraging you and helping you flourish and helping you grow, you'll probably have a somewhat better future.
Speaker 3:What are your thoughts on that? I'm trying to gather them. I mean, I think that can be true in a lot of cases, but sometimes it's just people are products of their environment and there's those certain select few that want to break free from that narrative. So, even if you are in fact, you show me your friends, I'll show you your future. Just because you're friends with some people, I don't believe it destines you to be the same person as they are in the long run.
Speaker 2:Definitely.
Speaker 1:Is there a specific time you think you should move on from a friendship?
Speaker 2:I think sometimes, I think definitely when I was younger, when I first moved here, I was really so I had a lot of social anxiety. I really just wanted friends. I did not want to be the new kid who had no friends, no one knew, so that kind of caused me to get into some like toxic friendships. But I think it did take me a little bit of a while to break free from that. But I think it did take me a little bit of a while to break free from that. But I think now I'm kind of quick to just say, hey, like this isn't right. But once you start seeing those red flags I think that we described, and you just you feel stressed out or you feel like just weighed down, you don't feel happy. You know, if you're, it feels like a hassle to be friends with that person. Then maybe you know just not the right time or you just shouldn't be friends with that person, and I think that's once you realize that it's time to time to go.
Speaker 3:I don't think there's like a set time or anything. This is when the time calls upon that decision. Definitely, that makes sense.
Speaker 1:You guys are both in high school. You both are stellar students. You guys have both played sports and you guys have been part of teams either that's the poetry club or that is football team or wrestling team? I see you decided to bring the guns out today. I had to let him do that because I knew he would want to do that.
Speaker 3:Sons out, guns out.
Speaker 1:But being a part of a team, how do you differentiate between these are just my teammates or these are my friends?
Speaker 2:Well, I was on the track team. You know you're going to be with those. No matter what team you're on, you're going to be with those people a lot of the time. You're not going to get along with everyone, definitely. I think it also has something to tie in with school, like if those people aren't kind of you don't see them out of school, you know on your daily basis they're not a key part of your life, then it's that's kind of where you know you're like okay, this is just my teammate or this is just my friend, or you know, it kind of gets tricky because you can just be teammates and then you can be friends. But I had a lot of people who I was definitely just teammates with and maybe like of people who I was definitely just teammates with, and maybe like two people who I was genuinely friends with.
Speaker 3:I think that being a part of a team can definitely help you find your kind of people and the people you want to surround yourself with. And there's also those people that you're really like. That person is super negative and they don't ever want to actually do anything to contribute to the team. And there's also those people that you're really like. That person is super negative and they don't ever want to actually do anything to contribute to the team. So why don't I want that person to be my friend? Because they're going to exhibit that same behavior in our friendship when it comes down to it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely. I think sometimes those kind of people they definitely need guidance. There was a lot of people like that on my team too. Also, I think it helps you like really really have better socializing skills. It definitely helped me, you know, because, like I said, you're not gonna get along with everyone, but it definitely teaches you how to deal with that and in your friendships as well you guys are both avid readers.
Speaker 1:Right, tell me a book that has changed your life.
Speaker 2:The Perks of being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.
Speaker 3:That's hard no Longer. Human by Osamu Dazai. Tell me a little bit about both those books.
Speaker 2:There's a movie called the Perks of being a Wallflower. I read the book first. It's definitely a mental health book. It's like a coming of age. There's the main character. He is depressed. He had tried to commit suicide. He has survivor's guilt. His aunt passed away getting his Christmas gift. She got into a car wreck and after that he had very bad mental health issues, mental health issues. And now he's going into the first. He's a freshman and he has a really hard time getting friends. He's getting bullied but his English teacher kind of saves him. He's giving him books, giving him just being a friend to him. He has a lot of hardships throughout that year. He tries to commit suicide again. He goes back to the mental hospital but he comes out of it with a different mindset. There's another book like that called Girl Interrupted by Susanna Kaysing. That's a true story. There's also a movie about that. She was in a mental hospital in the 60s. She had bipolar disorder. I definitely like mental health books.
Speaker 3:It's a really good outlook look, the book no longer human follows a character and he's. He is a. He shelters himself a little bit away from the world and he's really depressed and he doesn't know why. And the whole book is following him in the stages of why he doesn't feel like a human and he feels like everybody's different than him and why he's disgusted with the world, up until the end of his life where he commits suicide because he didn't have somebody, like in the work of being a wallflower, to save him from himself. And he has set these mental blocks that never let him change.
Speaker 2:I think all three of these books, I think they're really good to read because I think a lot of people don't understand mental health and even though I still don't understand it a little bit because, you know, I don't experience it, I don't live with it, but I think it's very eye-opening. I think other books like that are definitely poetry books by Rupi Kaur, milk and Honey Homebody.
Speaker 1:It sounds like you guys have an interest in self-help, like mental health. So it sounds like our next topic is going to be about mental health, and I'd be interested to have some conversations with the two of you specifically about what that means and how you guys get self-help and your perspective on mental health and your perspective on, you know, making sure you guys are healthy. So last question I have for you before our listeners leave us today, is what are some of your final thoughts that you want to leave the listening audience here today?
Speaker 2:I want you to think about how you your friendships. Definitely I want you to think about your friendships. Definitely I want you to analyze your friendships, think if you're making the right choices with your friends and how it's affecting your mental health. And also the books that we talked about. That are really good books and they are a little bit more advanced, are the ones that I said, but I think it's very good and I think you should always be open to educate yourself.
Speaker 1:Awesome. What about you, young fellow?
Speaker 3:I'm going to drop some knowledge. Your life is not a sacrifice for your passion, which means you do not have to sacrifice your life for the things you're passionate about. They will come when their time is due.
Speaker 1:I heard that.
Speaker 2:That's a thinker.
Speaker 1:That's a thinker for you. Anything else you guys want to share? Hey, I appreciate your time. It was a pleasure getting to spend these couple minutes with you. You guys are wonderful, wise children.
Speaker 1:Out of the mouth of babes the podcast is going to be something. If you're not familiar with it, it is based out of Psalms 8-2. Out of the Mouth of Babes and Nurse and Infants, you have ordained strength because of your enemies, that you may silence the enemy and the avenger, and essentially what that's saying is that you guys are powerful. Out of the Mouth of children comes wise and wonderful things. The last thing I'm going to leave you with and this is a very good quote by Anna Robertson Brown Lindsay it costs to be a friend or to have a friend. There is nothing else in life except motherhood that costs so much. It not only costs time, affection, patience and love, but sometimes a man must even lay down his life for his friends. There is no true friendship without self-abnegation and self-sacrifice. I want you to think about that. That was Anna Robertson Brown Lindsay. Thank you guys for joining us. We got another group coming in, so I want to give them a good opportunity to connect. So thank you.