—A Special Notice to All Teens & JETTs!

—By MariaMaria #154 DO 2758 10/91

1. One of our leaders recently expressed a question about our using the term "kids" for you JETTs & Teens. She was concerned that some of you might feel that it was a rather condescending name or label to be placed on you when you read it in our pubs. Maybe a reason for this is because we have a magazine called "Kidz," which is for our younger children.

2. But be that as it may‚ I think that all of you Teens and JETTs can understand that when we use this term "kids" with you‚ it is not meant in any way to be taken as belittling or derogatory. In fact‚ it is a very widely used and accepted term for all young people. As old as most of us adults are now, Grandpa still calls us "kids"! Actually, most parents call all of their children "kids," regardless of their age. Teachers call their high school students "kids," and most older people call everybody considerably younger than they are "kids."

3. So, dear JETTs & Teens, you must not be offended or have your feelings hurt or your sensitivities bothered just because we call you "kids." It's just an American term that has caught on worldwide. It's a term that is used for young people in general of whatever age. So you may as well get used to it‚ unless you want to be called the other alternative that we sometimes use—"young people." But I don't know if you like that any better.

4. However, you'll probably need to accept these terms, because every time that we need to talk to or about you JETTs & Teens together, we're not going to be able to always say‚ "You JETTs & Teens." We don't always need to make that distinction, so we're just going to either be saying "kids" or "young people," which means all of you together. It isn't demeaning & it isn't derogatory & it isn't belittling, it's just a nice simple term that we've used all our lives, & that our parents & our teachers have used with us.—It's just the way we talk & it's not meant to offend anyone & it shouldn't. In fact, the Webster's Dictionary says that one of the meanings of the word "kid" is "a person of any age (used especially as a familiar form of address)." So please just accept it as the friendly, familiar & informal term that it is! ("Familiar" in this instance means personal or intimate.)

5. If you're tempted to have any kind of problem with this term, just remember that it's nothing to get offended about, & we're not looking down on you when we call you that.—Just like Grandpa is not looking down on us when he calls us kids, even though we're 35, 40 or 45 years of age! Amen? God bless all of you kids, young & old, I love you!

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family