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PART 1
CREATING A CLIMATE
FOR CHANGE
Barack Obama, in his first public event since leaving the White House, said:
what I’m convinced of is that although there are all kinds of issues I care about and all kinds of issues I intend to work on, the single-most important thing I can do is to help, in any way I can, prepare the next generation of leadership to take up the baton and take their own crack at changing the world. (Abc7 24 April 2017)
His message was clear: young people have significant potential. He went on to say:
I have been encouraged everywhere I go in the United States – but also everywhere around the world – to see how sharp and astute and tolerant and thoughtful and entrepreneurial our young people are. So the question then becomes: What are the ways in which we can create pathways for them to take leadership, for them to get involved?
Of all he might do, following his time in the White House, Obama has recognised the power of engaging with children and young people, of impacting the future through creating opportunities ‘today’.
Part 1 suggests that in creating such opportunities we need to free ourselves from the baggage that surrounds some dominant perceptions about the child. These perceptions have shaped and continue to shape and direct our understandings and the practices that we develop. If we are to create ‘pathways to leadership’ for children to ‘get involved’, then we need to detox ourselves from the passive views of children that limit and restrict the types of possibilities that are open to them.
We need to challenge our own thinking about children.
We need to challenge the thinking of others.
We need to recognise the value of children as partners.
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STEP 1
REVITALISE YOUR
THINKING!
Part 1: Creating a climate for change | Step 1 – Revitalise your thinking! | 1. Recognise the noise 2. Spot the assumption 3. Your image of the child? 4. Connect image and practice 5. Notice their experience 6. Refresh your image 7. Imagine the difference |
Section objectives | • To be able to reflect on what shapes our attitudes to children. • To understand and recognise the barriers that limit children’s participation. • To increasingly see children as partners |
Arguably the factor that most restricts children from establishing a voice and having platforms through which that voice can be amplified is us, adults!
If we are the issue, then it is with us that we must begin to search for a solution.
To rile you or make you defensive is not the purpose of this challenge. But it is a challenge nonetheless. For, however long we have worked with children, whatever our qualifications or experience, it is vital that we give ourselves the time to reflect on how we think about children. Why? For the simple reason that, irrespective of how progressive our views on children are, we are living in a world that is dominated by opinions about children that are incomplete. Incomplete because these views have for too long been based on what adults think about children, rather than balancing that with what children think too!
Prince William created headlines in April 2017 by saying that the British stiff upper lip should be replaced by people talking openly about their emotions. Notably, this included children. In an interview with one charity magazine the Prince said, ‘Catherine and I are clear we want both George and Charlotte to grow up feeling able to talk about their emotions and feelings.’ He went on, ‘Over the past year we have visited a number of schools together where we have been amazed listening to children talk about some quite difficult subjects in a clear and emotionally articulate way, something most adults would struggle with’ (CALMzine 2017).
It is notable that in 2017 headlines can be created by someone saying that they hope that their children will grow up talking about their emotions, and that there is surprise over the fact that children do this already!
Our thinking about children and a set belief that they are not capable of engaging with their emotions has dominated for millennia. We should be encouraged that these views are being challenged, but that such challenges need to be made in the first place shows how far we still have to go.
To establish a culture of advocacy and to improve our capacity as individuals to engage with children effectively it is important for us to go through a process of regular detox as we draw out all those invasive attitudes about children that can limit our engagement and restrict effective practice. This chapter will take you on a journey of detoxification and revitalisation (one you can make personal use of, or share with others).
DETOXING OUR VIEW OF THE CHILD
A traditional detox programme might encourage you to think about what you eat and drink and the amount of exercise or rest you have; this detox programme is going to be slightly more cerebral than that, as we look to take on what is in our heads, perhaps extracting unwanted ideas and engaging new ones or simply refreshing connections and dusting off a memory that has been locked away. Despite this being a mental exercise, that does not mean we can’t make it practical (see the Reflections at the end of each step)!
Detox
Action 1: Recognise the noise
Action 2: Spot the assumption
Action 3: Your image of the child?
Action 4: Connect image and practice
Action 5: Notice their experience
Revitalise
Action 6: Refresh your image
Action 7: Imagine the difference
ACTION 1: RECOGNISE THE NOISE
Our thinking about children is influenced by the multitude of views and ideas that are present all around us.
‘My mum always said…’
‘In the news that child was…’
‘In my training children were described as…’
‘Those children at the bus stop…’
These different views on children come to inform a backdrop, which in turn becomes the scenery in front of which we interact with children.
It would be a hard task to define all the sources of the ‘noise’ that come to inform our views on children. Although, as a first step in raising our awareness of the ‘noise’, it is helpful to have some sense of where that noise might come from.
Defining the Noise |
Views informed by: | As seen through: | Examples |
The space we are in | • The country, town, community we are in • The current political climate | Political initiatives focused on school-starting age (note the variations even within Europe) |
Cultural traditions | • Our customs and conventions • Religious practices | Approaches to parenting |
Formal practices | • The law • Defined (institutional) policies | Ages at which the law defines individual responsibility |
Popular trends | • The media • Themes in literature or in films • The internet • Consumer patterns | Presentation of children in the news |
Our legacy | • History (philosophical thought, institutional metholologies) | Theories that reflect on when children are ‘ready’ to take part in ‘reasoned’ thought |
‘Noise’ about children is all around us. A...
