This weekend I took our 5 year old to see How to Tame A Dragon.

I’ll admit I wanted to see the movie with or without him.

Yeah, I’m a kid.

The movie is about a viking boy who wants to kill dragons, like his pops. Thing is the boy is a tiny, awkward, scared young boy who shouldn’t be any where near dragons.

Hiccup (the boy) befriends Toothless (the dragon) early in the movie and by getting to know this dragon he realizes what makes the dragon tick. What calms him down. What puts him to sleep. You get the idea.

This movie made me think about my approach with the kids I see each week at the Juvenile Detention Facility.

My strategy has always been to learn what makes them tick and play to their strengths.

I’ve realized these kids, above all else, want to be heard. They want to speak. They want someone to listen.

To listen and to care.

I find the best nights in the facility are the nights where I say the least (go figure). I think, for the most part, people can sometimes solve their problems by speaking them out loud.

I also think speaking their problems out loud helps takes the burden off their shoulders a bit. To speak out loud something that they’ve felt in their mind. But speaking it makes it real, or at least helps us to hear it for ourselves.

I’m realizing this is true for most people, including myself.

I sometimes wonder what church would be like if the congregation did most the talking.

I wonder.