You know that little sinking feeling one gets when the kids go quiet? You just know something is not right; they're either getting in trouble or hurt. When kids are healthy and engaged, we hear them; when we hear healthy, engaged kids it signals to us that things are "right."
Well, in the circles of community development, transition, and improvement I have not heard the kids.
One recent evening I attended the latest one of these circles of people talking...and talking...and talking about what to do to bring about vital, sustainable change for our communities. When my daughter (age 12yrs) asked, "What are we actually going to DO?" she was commended for her insight and then the adults proceeded to talk about how she was right that we had to do something. The one other person under 18yrs in attendance said nothing the entire time.
The day after the meeting, my daughter and I debriefed. We thought of ways kids could be included in this work, rather than just tolerated or added to what the adults are doing. We came up with ideas for creating "pods" for the kids during meetings: when the adults are theorizing, the kids could be working in another space to brainstorm what they can do, start networking with friends, create a website, plan an event to take the theory into practice. At one point, the pod would rejoin the adults and meld what they've been working on with what the kids have brought. I asked her if she thought it would be helpful to have one adult along in the pod to guide, not rule, the process (aware of the pitfalls of distraction). Her response: "No - trust the kids." She beautifully brought me into awareness of my own projection of my frustrations with adult meetings! I then asked her what kind of age range could be encompassed by our ideas of inclusion. She undercut my guess by three years; in her opinion, everyone over the age of five could and should be a participant in shaping a nourishing world.
Two days after that meeting, she had established a group of 20 people - including four adults - who are interested in working for sustainability, particularly in the area of consumerism as it is targeted at kids and teens. My proud-Mom buttons are pinging everywhere!
This is what our efforts need - the energy, creativity, perspective, and experience of our most vital resource! Our children need to be engaged with the work of building their inheritance. We all know stories of "spoiled rich kids" who have no clue as to how to manage the enterprises that have facilitated their lives. Well-meaning parents mistakenly "protect" them from the hardships of the work they've done to secure a particular incarnation of "the good life." How much more important it is for our children to know what it takes to guarantee clean water, air, and soil for everyone! What a waste of time, energy, and resources to constantly reinvent the wheel as young adults have to learn anew, reclaim what their parents and grandparents knew and did.
The sustainability of any movement or enterprise is predicated on legacy planning - who will do this work when you don't? How long will it take someone else to be in a position to replace you when you move on to something else? So often, the answers to these questions arrive in multiples; one trailblazer or hub is replaced by many.
Beyond technology and getting things done, our kids need to learn from us how to do it together over the long-haul. As with so much in life, sustainability isn't just what we do - but how we do it.
In a 21st Century world of collaborative leadership, we need to be listening for and to our kids. Their engagement will made all the difference.
No comments:
Post a Comment