What is untrue about it? Made perfect sense to me. In fact, it helped clarify some confusion I had.

He has to be flexible enough to dance the boy dance, dance the man dance, and dance all the forms in between. If he gets trapped in the frenetic, repetitive rhythyms of the boy-dance, any boys that follow him will be trapped there as well. If he does the slow, grave, man-dance, then the boys will never be interested.

What this did for me: If I'm not careful, I might dance the dance in between child and man. That would be like a rocket booster only firing half of its fuel and getting halfway to space. As mentors to children, we need to provide them with a solid foundation to model.

The best thing I can do is become the best man I can be - to learn the man dance as best I can. Only then will I be fit to do what I most desire - to be the best mentor I can for the kids I work with.

I have found, though, that as I become a man, it takes more effort to truely understand boys. It seems to be a fading memory that comes back when I spend quality time with them.