A year ago, Hudson was sitting where many of our students are today: solving puzzles, exploring escape rooms and throwing himself into every challenge.

Today, he’s one of our Junior Facilitators - and younger students are playing a strategy game he designed!

That journey, from participant to creator, captures something we believe deeply at CoLab: confidence doesn’t come from being told you’re capable - it grows when someone trusts you with something that genuinely matters.

This month, I want to share what that looks like inside CoLab and how you can give your kid more responsibility at home.

My work experience at 16 involved watching people answer emails, photocopying documents and going to client lunches. In all honesty, it taught me very little.

Most internships ask young people to watch. At CoLab, we've taken a different approach.

Students who embody CoLab’s values are invited to join our Junior Facilitator Program - a paid internship where they take on different responsibilities.

Not pretend responsibility. Real responsibility.

They co-facilitate sessions. They design and test new games. They create maps for existing challenges. Some even help run our marketing.

Why?

Because we believe young people discover who they are by doing meaningful work, not by waiting until they're older to be trusted with it.

One of my favourite moments isn't when a Junior Facilitator gets something right. It's when a younger student turns to them for help.

That tiny moment says: "Someone believes I can do this". And that's often where confidence begins.

Over the past few months, Hudson has been designing Rickle 2.0, the sequel to one of CoLab’s most popular strategy games.

The original was a cross between checkers, chess and Catan, and version 2.0 includes new maps and two new game mechanics. And now, hundreds of younger students are playing it!

That's exciting. But what excites me more is what Hudson represents.

There's a saying that “you can't be what you can't see”.

Now every time a younger student watches Hudson facilitate a session, help another team, or introduce a game that he designed himself, they're seeing what's possible.

They're not just playing a game built by another student. They're beginning to imagine themselves in his shoes.

That's the real purpose of our Junior Facilitator Program. That's a different kind of legacy.

Stories like Hudson's remind me that kids are capable of far more than adults expect.

Which brings me to something I read this week...

Jo Nagai was ten years old when he noticed something unusual while raising swallowtail butterflies. The butterflies he had cared for as caterpillars seemed to recognise him.

Instead of dismissing the idea, Jo contacted Dr Martha Weiss, an entomologist who had studied whether insects could retain learned behaviours through metamorphosis. She took his question seriously.

With her support, Jo adapted an experiment for his butterflies and eventually presented his findings at the International Congress of Entomology!

The key takeaway is that children don’t always need to wait until they’re older. Sometimes they just need someone to take their questions seriously.

(Thank you, Mirka, for sharing this story)

The next time your kid offers to help, resist the temptation to give them the easiest job.

Instead, give them one that has actually matters. Something with a real outcome, clear boundaries and room to decide:

Will they make mistakes? Maybe. But that's not the point.

Responsibility isn't something kids become ready for. It's something they become ready through.

I’d love to know: When did someone first trust you with real responsibility?

I suspect it taught you far more than any worksheet ever did.

Alan

P.S.

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