When the young emulate the old(er)

We're experiencing a new phenomenon in the group. As I mentioned, we're having a bit of a changing of the guard, with all the old(er) youth away at college, the dynamics have really changed. Some of the 'middle' group - the ones who have been around for more than a year - have started fidgeting. And some of the 'younger' group have not quite stepped up as the middle ones expected. Fair enough.
So this week, one of the other adults involved lead a session in which we all dug deep and remembered why we were there, and what we brought to the group - as well as what the group brought to us. It was a great exercise. It made me think about how I had communicated a certain way for so long, and that worked fine with the older group. But this newer group isn't the same, obviously.
After we poured our thoughts onto paper, we started a discussion. One of the middle groupers, S, suggested that we really needed to have people step up and have roles, just like the older ones had had.
I was tickled pink by that! It had never even occurred to me that as soon as the middlers were the older ones, they'd take on the same ownership! Not that I didn't think they could do it - I absolutely do. But that they would WANT to step up so readily - and clearly feel like they were ready. That I loved.
A couple of the newest kids even stepped up and shared what some of their strengths were - what they could bring to the group.
I guess I've been so caught up in trying to get things done, and keep things going, that I forgot to stop and think about what the new group would look like. And who would step up. It speaks volumes to the older yutes, that these new middlers emulate them so much, and now want to have roles just like they did.
Leadership in yutes - it just keeps paying off.
And I'm loving it!