Developing student leadership proves to be a big challenge for some schools. Adolescents and young people are increasingly becoming distracted. They are actually subjected to so many advertisements and media messages. They can be easily hooked by a lot of things.

Young people can easily spend hours upon hours just watching TV. They can even stay up late just trying to catch their favorite TV shows. This is probably one of the reasons why the incidence of obesity among teenagers and adolescents is rising. If they can be motivated to do something else and take leadership, they can probably bring down the obesity level in the world.

Video games can also hook kids easily. When they are addicted to a video game, they can even spend 24 hours straight just playing in front of the computer or the game console. This can be pretty alarming for parents and teachers because the kids may end up wasting their gifts and skills instead of developing their potentials.

Kids may also be distracted by texting and the less wholesome habit of sexting. In addition to this, the demands of school may keep them occupied and unwilling to participate in any activity that will lead to developing student leadership. They are also daunted by leadership tasks because they may feel that they lack the skills necessary for such tasks.

Here are some suggestions on developing student leadership in the age of adolescent distraction.

Walk with them. To help put the students at ease, you need to walk with them and assure them that you are with them. This way, they will feel your support and they will not be afraid to develop their student leadership.

Identify their needs. In developing student leadership, you need to identify their needs, as well as the set of skills they need to develop. This way, you will have focus in your student leadership development efforts.

Be the mentor. It helps students to know that somebody is looking after them. They will even talk to you about their problems and their situation in life. The mentor can also serve as a role model for their lives and the career path they want to follow.

Challenge them for action. When you set a task for the students to complete, help them set goals, no matter how small they may be. When you challenge student leaders, they can and will respond to such a challenge.

Help the students develop leadership by being a role model and an example for them to follow.