Today I met a great group of kids that led me to one question: how can I get my kids to turn out like them?

My husband’s cousin, the cuter-than-ever teacher who is instructing a summer “writing” camp for young teens at the nearby university, asked me to come in and speak for a few minutes about my career and interest in writing. As I put together a few thoughts last night, something told me these kids would be teaching me instead. And that is exactly how I spent my 30 minutes.

I was as interested in them, as they were with me. Or perhaps I should say as they were interested in the Starbursts I brought, sorting and digging for the pink ones. We all decided I should have brought a bag of just the pink ones. They really are the best Starbursts.

Between passing the bag of candy, I wanted to know why any teenager age 13 or 14 would choose to spend an entire week of their summer vacation learning how to write better. From 9:00 AM until 3:00 in the afternoon, they are learning everything from grammar to publishing a full-blown newspaper. Was I impressed? Yes.

I’ve spent a lot of time with teenagers and this group was a different breed. They were mature, interesting, thoughtful in the sense that they cared about themselves on an intellectual level. They are already thinking of grad school.

Most teens I know are thinking about what to wear, who they want to kiss and “who said she said.” Or maybe it’s video games or Hannah Montana or sleeping in until noon. How do typical teens want to spend their summer vacation? Let’s just say, not at a writing camp.

So how did this inspiring group of kids end up learning to write during their time off? From what I was able to gather, I was led to two reasons:

1. They wanted to be there. These teens are put together, well traveled (the talkative one just returned from China and was still recovering from jetlag) and they recognize the importance of writing regardless of their career paths (which by the way include: a marine biologist, a surgeon, a navy seal, a reporter and a cellist).
2. Their parents gave them the option to attend the writing camp (this means, their parents had to first look and find such an opportunity). Simply put: proactive parents.

You know, I can be that kind of parent too. As my children grow, I can be looking for opportunities like this. I can travel more or take my girls to more museums to expand their minds. We can search, think and ponder and set goals in the process. I mean, I’ve already explained to my first grader how college works.

I hope at the end of the day, my children dig for the pink Starbursts too. There will always be lots of choices out there and sometimes the pink ones get all taken before you get a chance at the bag. So I suppose it’s up to me, the parent, to get as many pink candies in there as I can for my girls to choose from. The pink Starbursts are the best and that’s exactly what I want for my children.

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