Raising Global Citizens

Human Rights for kids

2011-06-18T08:34:00.000-04:00

June 18, marks the day the United Nations Commission on Human Rights adopted its International Declaration of Human Rights.

Human Rights is something I think children, with their unwavering need to keep things fair, understand intuitively. There are some great books for kids about Human Rights.
We Are All Born Free: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Pictures. Published by Amnesty International, this is a beautifully illustrated book with 30 different artists and illustrators each contributing to bring all the declarations to life.

Every Human Has Rights: What You Need to Know About Your Human Rights is published by National Geographic. Like We Are All Born Free each declaration is represented visually, this time with stunning photographs. In addition, commentary by other kids illustrates just how important human rights are to all of us.

For teens, Amnesty International has a Youth page with information about becoming involved in Human Rights issues, curriculum plans for teachers including discussion guides to relevant films and books.

United Nations for Kids video
Compasito an excellent hands on experiential curriculum for teaching all children about human rights.

In Culture Parenting Magazine

2011-02-22T23:28:00.001-05:00

I stumbled across ths excellent resource for parents raising multicultural or multiracial famlies, those travelling or living abroad or those just wanting to include a global perspecting in the parenting. Regular sections of the online magazine delve into culture, language, tradition, religion, global celebrations, travel, books, even recipes.
Enjoy!
InCultureParent

Inspiring NYT article

2010-11-03T00:37:00.000-04:00

Nicolas Kristof wrote an inspiring article outline how people, particularly women are finding ways to make a difference by seeing a need and making a change in their lives and the lives of people half way around the world.

It’s all about what might be called Do-It-Yourself Foreign Aid, because it starts with the proposition that it’s not only presidents and United Nations officials who chip away at global challenges. Passionate individuals with great ideas can do the same, especially in the age of the Internet and social media.

The challenge is to cultivate an ideology of altruism, to spread a culture of social engagement — and then to figure out what people can do at a practical level.

Read the full article here.

Bits of blankets, lots of love

2010-10-29T01:50:00.000-04:00

One of the many things my children and their friends teach me is that there is no problem so big that a little time and attention, love and friendship can't make better.

This week we gathered with our Difference Maker's group to needle felt some happy pictures on wool squares which will be sent to the Knit a Square Foundation to be made into blankets for AIDS orphans in Africa. Knowing the blankets would be going to children, our kids decorated them with happy faces, hearts, peace signs and polkadots. The kids decorated enough squares to make at least one blanket, but we hope that these specially decorated squares will be spread out among many blankets so that our kids can reach out and touch many children.

Some resources for talking about this issue with children:
Braids by Robert Munch and Taya Kendall (read the story of how this book came to be here.)
Simon's Story by Glynis Clacherty
Our stories, our songs : African children talk about AIDS by Deborah Ellis,

For older children and teens
The heaven shop by Deborah Ellis,
Ana's story : a journey of hope by Jenna Bush,
AIDS & HIV : the facts for kids by Rae Simons,

The Empathic Civilisation

2010-10-16T10:01:00.000-04:00

Really wonderful talk about how we have evolved through techology to become capable of an Empathic Civilisation.

Message in a Bottle

2010-10-15T23:03:00.004-04:00

We never know the worth of water till the well is dry.
~Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732

October 15th is Change.org's Blog Action Day and the topic this year is water which is timely because today my kids attended a workshop on the environmental impact of the bottled water industry.
Water has been on our minds a lot lately with today's program, our recent river clean up and a local news story in our about Nestle's "right" to sell our local water and the power that company presumes it gives it within our community to influence programs like the excellent one my kids attended today.

Today's program gave the kids a real perspective on bottled water. Through hands on demonstrations the kids saw how much water (1500 mls) and how much oil (about 150 mls) is used in the production of each typical water bottle (and that is before they fill, package or ship it). They learned about the cost of the water - just 1 cent to fill it from the tap or 100-200 times that to buy it from the convenience store or vending machine. The learned about the implications for our recycling and landfills from the use of plastic bottles. They heard about threats to our aquifer and local supply - everything from the local Nestle water plant which is extracting and exporting the water for sale to a local mining company which has recently punctured the protective layer which separates our aquifer from surface water contamination.

We are surrounded by water. We spend a lot of time hiking by our river, swimming at the lake at the cottage, canoeing and kayaking at the local conservation area. I have a very hard time imagining what the world will look like in 20 or so years when the fresh water supply has dwindled and is owned by large corporations.

As with anything the first step is to get educated. And the second is to act.

Things you can do with your kids:
Stop drinking bottled water. Buy and use re-usable bottles. They pay for themselves in no time.
Ask your schools, city facilities etc not to sell bottled water
Organize a reusable water bottle buying co-op for your neighbourhood, class, sports team.
Find out the cost implications of water bottles on your recycling program.
Write letters to your editor and mayor to publicize the issue.
Watch the Story of Bottled Water, FLOW, Ryan's Well and other water documentaries to educate yourselves about water issues.
Raise funds for organizations like charity:water
Take part in the World Water Monitoring Day activities,
Do a bottled water taste testing challenge with friends
Do a water audit in your home.

In an age when man has forgotten his origins and is blind even to his most essential needs for survival, water along with other resources has become the victim of his indifference.

~ Rachel Carson

Resources
Books:
~ A river ran wild : an environmental history by Lynne Cherry,
~ Save water by Viv Smith,
~ Water by Trevor Day,
~ Water : how we use and abuse our planet by Pamela Grant
~ Water supplies by Jude Welton,
~ Keeping water clean Ewan McLeish,
~ Follow the water from brook to ocean Arthur Dorros
Online
~ EPA educational resources for Water
DVD
Flow - For the Love of Water

The We Generation

2010-10-15T22:04:00.001-04:00

From a lovely article in USA today: Growing numbers of pre-teens and early teens are giving tweens a new face: a socially responsible young citizen. They're not only doing good in their local communities, but having a global impact. Some have created their own non-profits, and most have websites enlisting the support of kids like themselves who also want to help others.

In a related article Huffpro has a feature of 7 young people making a difference. So inspiring

Immappacy ~ How big is Africa?

2010-10-15T08:45:00.000-04:00

Excellent post and visual to show how our perceptions can sometimes be so off.

A great book to follow up on the topic of Africa would be Africa is not a Country by Margy Burns Knight.

Talking about religion

2010-10-15T00:19:00.002-04:00

I just recently learned that the word religion comes from the Latin root that means to bind.
Wouldn't it be great if we could use religion as a way to bind us together rather than separate us.

Lately we have been confronted by so many religious divisions - the ground zero mosque, which isn't really a mosque and isn't really at ground zero, discussions about whether religion plays into the world's slow response to the crisis in Pakistan, our own city's struggles over the building of a Sikh temple, even philosophical divides on the homeschooling boards I frequent.

In the midst of figuring out how to navigate these concepts with my kids I came across this article (linked from this wonderful blog) and read these words, written by UU president Peter Morales.

Religion is much more about what we love than about what we think...The questions we ask one another are so critically important. If you and I ask each other what we believe, we will get into talking about very heady stuff. We will put forth our beliefs and then support them with evidence and argument. All too often we will end up arguing... However, when we ask one another what we truly love, what we truly value, what we care about more than anything else in life, something amazing happens. We don’t argue. We listen. We connect. We discover that we love and want the same things. We care about one another. We want honesty, depth, and intimacy in our relationships. We want enduring friendships.

We also discover that we realize that we are all in this life together. We want to help heal the world. We want compassion, understanding, and justice to guide our actions and our governments. We want to work together, hand in hand, to build a world beyond exploitation and violence.

This year one of my goals is to take my kids to various houses of worship and to introduce them more fully to the worlds' religious traditions. We started this past weekend with a walk through the stations of the cosmos at a nearby religious retreat which is a beautiful spiral timeline that shows the evolution of the universe, the development of the various world religions and the stations of the cross. I loved the quotes selected to illustrate some of the ideas of the world religions and how they followed the same threads. We really are more alike than we are different.

Nonviolence is the supreme religion. One who looks on the creatures of the Earth, big and small, as one's own self, comprehends this immense world.

~ Lord Mahavira

More world food day resources

2010-10-14T23:57:00.004-04:00

For every grain of rice
we are thankful
for thousands of workers.
For every drop of rain
we are thankful
for the earth's many blessings
~ one of our mealtime blessings

I came across the Kids Can Make a Difference website the other day.
Inspiring kids to end hunger and poverty in their communities, their country, and their world.

KIDS is a program of iEARN (International Education and Resource Network) the world's largest non-profit global network that enables teachers and youth to use the Internet and other technologies to collaborate on projects that enhance learning and make a difference in the world.

If you are looking for activities to do with kids make sure that you check out the Classroom Initiatives to see what some educators have done around the issue of hunger awareness with their students.

And this excellent resource from Mother's Acting Up outlines a classroom Hunger Banquet along with ideas for other activism education.
The World Food Day USA website has a great selection of links and activities including the UN's online fame called Food Force.

And this blog has some children's story books related ethical eating (mostly vegetarianism)
Some other ideas for families for World Food Day:
~ Tour a farm, CSA, or farmer's market and learn more about where our food comes from and why it is so important to support local food suppliers.
~ Deliver donations directly to the food bank.
~ Have an around-the-world-dinner with recipes from various regions of the world.
~ Try Grassroots International's challenge to eat for a day in your community for just $2 or investigate how food accessibility and poverty are intertwined even in North America through movements like Put Food In the Budget.
~ Discuss with your kids and then sign the Petition to End Hunger and the Starved for Attention Petition
~ Before your meal take a moment to try to think of and honour every set of hands your food may have passed through to reach your table. Choose a blessing for your meal that reflects that. (I've listed some of our favourites below.)

Before we eat,
we turn our attention
to the bounty before us;
We are truly thankful for the gift of this meal
and for the richness of our lives.
May this food nourish our bodies
And the company of those we love
Nourish our spirits.

Thanks to the earth
thanks to the sun
thanks to the rain
for all they have done.
Thanks to the work
of heart and hand
That made this meal
from the gifts of the land.

Easy as pie

2010-10-12T23:21:00.000-04:00

I don't think a really good pie can be made without a dozen or so children peeking over your shoulder as you stoop to look in at it every little while.

~John Gould

As part of our Canadian Thanksgiving celebrations, we made pies - some for a potluck for our family and then today we made some for a friend serving a post-thanksgiving Thanksgiving meal at a shelter.

In the time it would have taken me to make a dozen pies, my four kids managed four beautiful handmade-with-love pies. They were involved at every step of the process, from picking the apples to peeling, chopping, measuring, mixing, cooking, rolling, filling and decorating the pies. And then they waited, somewhat impatiently, for them to finish baking so we could deliver them to a friend who would deliver them to another friend, who would deliver them to the shelter and serve those humble pies to the shelter's guests.

As we were eating our dinner tonight, my kids wondered if someone somewhere right that minute was enjoying a slice of handmade-with-love apple pie. If they liked the cinnamon and vanilla in the filling and the sugar sprinkled on the crust. If their piece had the heart shaped cut-out - the one that was sort of off center by mistake. If the pie tasted like the ones their mama had made for Thanksgiving so many years ago. They wondered if having pie would help them feel that someone cared about them. And then they agreed that making the pies to share was one of the things they were most grateful for this Thanksgiving and asked if we could do it again.

Absolutely.

I am amazed and grateful that helping kids feel empowered and connected to the world around them can sometimes be as easy as making pie.

World Habitat Day

2010-10-04T18:57:00.000-04:00

Today in honour of World Habitat Day some friends met at the Habitat for Humanity building site to help a wonderful artist paint the World Habitat Day Community Mural which will be installed on the permanent fence at the build site. The mural depicts "My Ideal Neighbourhood".
Isn't it beautiful?

Resources
A Castle on Viola Street by DyAnne DiSalvo ~ A hardworking family gets their own house at last by joining a community program that restores old houses.

The magic beads / written by Susin Nielsen-Fernlund
Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting
The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson
The Lady in the Box Ann McGovern
A Shelter in Our Car Monica Gunning

Peaceful news

2010-10-03T22:59:00.000-04:00

Came across this lovely magazine in my recent travels.

Ode is a print and online publication about positive news, about the people and ideas that are changing our world for the better.

The current online issue has articles about planting peace poles, being open to the power women have to change the environment and time banks. All very cool ideas and certainly kid friendly.

Those difference makers

2010-10-03T22:21:00.002-04:00

We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us.
When we see land as a community to which we belong,
we may begin to use it with love and respect.
~ Aldo Leopold

A merry band of friends, a few big garbage bags, gloves meant for adult hands and a beloved river.
A chair frame, fencing material, broken glass, furniture, building equipment, bags of paper, plastic, cans.
Small caring hands cleaning up messes made by large thoughtless adults.
I love these ~~kids~~, environmentalists, activists.

The activist is not the man who says the river is dirty. The activist is the ~~man~~ child who cleans up the river. ~ Ross Perot, with apologies for the editorial correction

World Food Day

2010-10-02T22:38:00.001-04:00

As we approach World Food Day this fall there are over 1 billion people who are hungry.

One Billion. That's one sixth of the earth's population.

Hunger is something young children can easily sympathize with. One year the kids and I planned a mini hunger banquet. I served the kids 1/3 of a cup of uncooked rice and dirty water for breakfast, while I feasted on bagels and eggs, yogurt and fresh fruit. Eventually I shared, but not before a few tears and gasps of horror as they realized how deeply unfair the disparity was. I think they got the message.

There are plenty of resources you can use to talk to kids about global hunger issues. The Feeding Minds website is an excellent one. Children may be surprised that there there are people who are hungry right in our neighbourhood and may need some guidance to understand that hunger happens because food may not be available or that it may be available but just not accessible to certain parts of our population. The Feeding Minds website offers some great lesson plans which are easily adaptable to family discussions and include not only information about hunger but also some tools to spark ideas about what we can do to alleviate it - both in our neighbourhood and world wide.

Resources:
~ Hungry planet : what the world eats by Peter Menzel
~ Let's eat! : what children eat around the world
~ The Penguin atlas of food by Erick Millstone
~ This is the way we eat our lunch: a book about children around the world
by Edith Baer
~ Food for all by Rufus Bellamy
~ Beatrice's goat by Page McBrier

Those leaves, those seeds

2010-10-02T14:02:00.002-04:00

The other day I went looking for a rake.
All of ours were gone.
Apparently the kids and some neighbourhood friends had decided to go around the neighbourhood offering to rake leaves for charity. For the low low price of $2 a band of kids would descend on a neighbours yard to rake and sweep and shovel those leaves off the grass. They even would haul them away in bags.

They raised $30 (thanks to some generous tips) which they plan to split evenly between the Red Cross and the Terry Fox Foundation.
AND they scored a huge pile of leaves to play in.

Everyone wins.
And my heart melts to see these seeds grow in them, to know they internalize what we talk about, include their friends and realize that a little work can go such a very long way.

Craftivism: A great way to get the kids involved

2010-10-02T13:50:00.003-04:00

When the world's troubles seem too big , I am always amazed at what a little comfort can do to help my kids. A little handmade warmth, a small gift that says I love you, some tangible way to convey that they are cared for seems to make almost any situation better. I think it is universal in fact and my kids are often moved to "make something" for friends who are struggling.

When our home school group was in the middle of the the doll making project my friend Joanna wrote something so beautiful on her blog.
I am not kidding myself that this will change very much in their hard lives. I know, though, that if my little ones ever found themselves without me there to care for them, I would be overcome with gratitude if another Mama, somewhere in the world, shared a little bit of her hand made love with my children.
I think kids get this - that a doll or a blanket won't change the world on it's own but that it can make someone feel loved and cared for. And putting more love and caring out into the world does make a real difference - both to the giver and the recipient. Whenever we have made things to give away, my kids develop a deep connection with the place and the people their gifts are intended to help. The idea that they have sent dolls to Haiti, which were made by their own hands and hugged with their own arms before shipping them has come up in so many ways over the past few months.

There are lots of ways that kids can become involved in making tangible gifts or items to show others they care.

Some opportunities to get your kids involved:

Dolly Donations - Sarah launched an amazing program to send dolls to Haitian children after the devastating earthquake. Working with organizations and orphanages she is sending love to so many. Kids can help choose fabrics, decorate faces, sew and stuff and make cards to send along to with their dolls.

Conn Kerr - provides cheerful pillowcases for pediatric cancer patients. Kids can help choose fabric, sew, tie-dye or decorate purchased pillow cases non-toxic dyes. There are coordinators for local hospitals all over North America so your crafts help local kids.

Knit a Square provides blankets for aids orphans in Africa. If you don't knit or crochet there are plenty of online tutorials to help and this would be a great beginner project. There is also a felt option using shrunken wool sweaters (and there are directions on this website). A group of our friends are going to get together to decorate some wool squares with needle felting so the kids can add some designs and pictures to their squares. We are hoping to send at least 40 squares to make a blanket.

Craft Hope is a great place to become involved in craftivism and their new book is fabulous.

There are also likely local opportunities. Knitting and quilting guilds often have connections for all sorts of charitable organizations who would love to receive handmade goodness. Often there are hat and mitt drives for local schools or shelters and it is super simple to make fun fleece hats. Seniors homes will often love to receive some bright kids art to decorate a seasonal table. Or you could arrange a kid craft sale and donate some of the proceeds to a favourite charity.

Resources:
One of our favourite children's books is about the power of giving handmade gifts. The Quiltmaker's Gift is incredibly beautiful and sparks great conversations with kids of all ages.

1000 Boxes (Or how to keep your volunteers happy)

2010-09-24T21:15:00.002-04:00

I think I have mentioned before one of our favourite places to volunteer is at a local warehouse that, among other things, packs food and hygiene boxes and distributes them across the province. We first volunteered there almost 2 years ago sorting a huge shipment of crocs which needed to be paired and were then being shipped overseas. It was overwhelming and I thought we may not have really been much help as many of our little ones liked to de-sort the already sorted piles. But they welcomed us back a few months later to pack some food boxes and since then we have made it a regular part of our homeschool co-op activities. I've lost count of the number of times we have been. My kids love to go. They work on the conveyor belt, carefully packing their cans of spaghetti sauce or boxes of cereal into the shipping box, or sorting books from our book drive, or loading the hygiene boxes onto a skid. And they always come away with a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.

I marvel a bit at their enthusiasm as the work can be monotonous at times. And yet this organization has truly figured out how to keep kids interested and motivated. In fact I think they could write a handbook on how to make the most of the energy of young volunteers

1) They set things up in small, doable tasks that are easy for kids to manage. Supplies are easily reachable by big and small kids, there is a sign to remind them how many of their items need to be packed, and the directions are very clear.

2) They allow for flexibility within reason. If a child is bored with putting crackers in a box they can switch with a friend, or go break down empty boxes, or stack new boxes or unload supplies for a neighbour. Small ones can help with simple jobs. Even the toddlers can pick up small boxes and put them in larger boxes or push the empty boxes to the recycling bin.

3) There is constant encouragement and cheer leading, not patronizing but heart felt, from the man who runs the warehouse. He works with the kids, making things easier for them, keeping an eye out for supplies that are running low, refilling tape dispensers, appreciating their efforts, and gently guiding them if needed. The manager of the program always makes an appearance, greets the kids and teases them about how much they have grown or who is missing teeth or who is wearing their favourite shirt again and he always says how happy he is to see them again, cementing that connection for them.

4) The kids know what the end result of their work will be. Before we start we're told where these boxes will go. They know the overall goal for the day's packing and how that fits into the bigger picture. This context gives them something tangible to help them understand that every box helps a family and that their work is valuable.

5) There is room for a child's natural enthusiasm and yet the atmosphere is created where the kids understand that we are there to help others, and that if we pack boxes with love and care and respect, the people on the other end will feel that. Our gift is not only the act of physically packing but care that goes into that.

6) They have Popsicles.
At the end of every one of our sessions, the kids do the last minute clean up and put things back in order as best they can. And then they gather for a thank you and a treat. The cost to the organization is few dollars. And yet that simple act of a gift at the end of our time helps turn rewarding work into a memorable experience. It also cements a connection that has allowed our contact with this organization to grow in such a way that my kids will often think of something and ask me if FTC could use their idea.

Today, we were the group that packed the last of 1000 food boxes to be distributed for Thanksgiving. The organization wanted to take our picture with the boxes for their newsletter. And while we were gathering the kids we were figuring that our group (in its various combinations) has probably packed at least 1000 boxes over the past year.

The kids can't wait to go back to get started on their next 1000.

International Day of Nonviolence

2010-09-23T23:07:00.000-04:00

In a gentle way, you can shake the world.
~ Mohandas Gandhi

October 2 marks both the birth of Gandhi and the UN's International Day of Nonviolence. We will likely head over to a nearby town for a peace walk but before then I want to do a bit more reading and research with my children on both topics.

Here are some of the resources I've found:

Gandhi: the young protester who founded a nation by Philip Wilkinson, Gandhi by Demi
Jadyn and the Magic Bubble: I Met Gandhi by Brigitte Benchimol
Paths to peace : people who changed the world by Jane Bresking Zalben,
Gandhi (DVD with Ben Kingsley)

The war by Anais Vaugelade, (one of our favourites about choosing non-violence)

Institute for Peace and Justice which has pledges of nonviolence for children of various ages.

Youngzine

2010-09-22T17:27:00.000-04:00

I came across Youngzine today which is an online newspaper aimed at kids ages 8-15.
The stories look to be internationally focused, well researched and broad in scope. There is also the opportunity to write for the news magazine.

Definitely one to check out.

Happy Peace Day!

2010-09-21T22:48:00.000-04:00

A few shots from our Peace Party in the Park and the Human Peace Sign we participated in this evening. Wishing you a peaceful day.

Planning for Peace

2010-09-19T18:37:00.002-04:00

If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children.
~ Mohandas Gandhi

Taken at a children's peace labyrinth we visited earlier this month.

The sign is made of a mosaic of children's drawings about peace.

Peace Day is coming up on Tuesday. Our family is joining with some friends for a Peace Party in the Park and then we will make our way over to the nearby town to participate in their annual human peace sign. We went last year and the kids had a blast.

I've been searching for some activities to do at our Peace Party and thought I would share what my friends and I found here and what we are planning for the day.

~ How to make an Origami Crane (we hope to make enough to leave some strings on the Children's monument we are gathering around)
~ Peace Bracelets inspired by the ones here
~ Pinwheels

Activities
~ If we have enough kids we plan on making a human peace sign.
~ We'll play a game about relying on friends to hold the world up. I did this at a Kids 4 Peace gathering we had a few years ago. We blow up balloons - about one for every two kids and then we give them all to one child to hold. Inevitably it is too many to keep track of and they fall on the ground. Then we invite in a friend to help and it gets easier but is still challenging. We keep inviting kids to help until by working together, we are able to keep all the balloons off the ground. Then we help the kids make the conclusion that not only was it easier when everyone was working together, it was more fun.
~ We'll have a Postcards for Peace station where kids can make postcards with their wishes for peace. For the holder children we will talk a bit about the MDG and the UN meeting that is taking place today to assess our collective (minimum) progress and then the kids can write to the Prime Minister and our MP about honouring their commitments to these goals. Younger children can make general postcards. We are looking for peace pen pals to share them with.
~ I've found some more activities in the educational resources section at Peace One Day

We'll also have some music supplied by a talented young friend and eventually I would like to get some CDs to play at events like this.

We'll also have a shared snack and some story time, and a chance to discuss a peace pledge.
Some of our favourite kids books about peace:
A little peace by Barbra Kerley,

Paths to peace: people who changed the world by Jane Breskin Zalben,
Peace one day by Jeremy Gilley,
Let there be light : poems and prayers for repairing the world by Jane Breskin Zalben,
Peace tales : world folktales to talk about by Margaret Read MacDonald,
Old Turtle by Douglas Wood
A million visions of peace : wisdom from the friends of Old Turtle by Jennifer Garrison,
Peace begins with you by Katherine Scholes,

Did you know that the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates called for the decade 2000 - 2010 to be a decade of peace?

Peace is not something you wish for; It's something you make, Something you do, Something you are, And something you give away.
~ Robert Fulghum

Dear Editor...

2010-09-18T21:55:00.006-04:00

For the last two weekends a small group of young people has been “Pulling for Pakistan” at the Farmer's Market. In exchange for a donation to the Red Cross Pakistan Relief Fund, these kids would pull their wagons loaded with customers’ packages from the market to their vehicles.

Over the course of two weekends, through the incredible generosity of the market patrons, the children raised $1360, which will be matched by the Canadian government. We were all thrilled with the outcome. And as parents, we are so grateful to this community, not only for their donations, but for their encouragement and kind words to the children about their efforts to do something tangible in the face of this tragedy in Pakistan. Our children came away from the experience having learned the powerful lessons that even though they are young, they can make a real difference by working together and involving their community.

On behalf of the eleven families, and 30 kids that participated I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who offered their donations and good wishes. You touched many lives in many ways through your generosity.

Sincerely,

Karen and friends

Our letter of thanks to our community was published in today's paper.

Growing volunteers

2010-09-17T00:54:00.004-04:00

This week we headed back to the nonprofit nursery with our friends to help get things ready for winter. The kids worked very hard - and some (the younger girls) even chose to keep working when they could have gone on a hike. They were on a mission to catch up to the boys in moving the crates of trees back onto the ground. It is always lovely to see their focus and commitment when they know their work is valuable and their efforts and abilities are acknowledged.

This particular nursery provides trees free of charge to homeowners and community groups doing reforestation projects and so all week the kids have been chatting up the value of this nursery to our friends and neighbours. It's easy to see how connected they are to this ideal.

The staff there are wonderful with the kids and I think that make all the difference. They found meaningful jobs for even the smallest among us, gave the kids plenty of choices about how they wanted to contribute and most of all trusted the kids to do the work they so wanted to do. We have been lucky to find a few exceptional opportunities that the kids can get completely engaged in and I have often thought of writing down tips for volunteer organizations about how to work with young children as volunteers, because I think that most organizations don't know how to harness the energy and enthusiasm of a group of committed kids.

If we cared for one another's children

2010-09-04T21:31:00.013-04:00

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
~ Margaret Mead

The solution to adult problems tomorrow depends on large measure upon how our children grow up today.
~ Margaret Mead

Today my kids and their friends launched their Pulling for Pakistan project. At 6:30 am we loaded up the van with our wagons and signs and headed down to our farmer's market. We set up our info table and donation jar just outside the market and started offering shoppers help to their vehicles in exchange for a donation to the Canadian Red Cross Pakistan Flood Relief Fund. It started off a bit slow but then our friends started to arrive and business picked up. The kids would pull in teams, sometimes with a parent and other times on their own.

People were exceedingly generous. And patient. And so kind in their encouragement and comments to the kids.

I was a bit hesitant last night as I was searching online for pictures to print out that showed the extent of the need without being too upsetting (and no the sad irony of that was not lost on me.) I was so disheartened at one point reading comments to the news stories about why people have been slow to give to this crisis. Religion. Politics. Donor fatigue. Helplessness. Skepticism and mistrust.

And then today I was blown away by the fact that none of that seemed to matter to the people who dropped coins and bills in our jars. Until, late in the day, one woman approached me and told me how much she disagreed with what we were doing. That Pakistan has nuclear weapons. That the "Muslim countries" aren't doing enough and that there are other people more deserving of our attention and our efforts. Slightly alarmed, I tried to keep walking her away from the kids. I told her that I agreed with her concerns about peace but that the Red Cross is not the Pakistan government and that NGOs are trying to help people whose lives have been torn apart by this flood as best they can. I explained that all my children wanted to do was to help other children who were homeless, hungry, thirsty, at risk of serious disease and who were undoubtedly scared that no one would help them. That our kids had done similar things to raise funds and send care packages to Haiti, send books to First Nations communities, and collect food for the food bank. That what these children behind me wanted to do was help where they could, however they can, without reserve, because it is the right thing to do.

And I told her that perhaps if we cared for each others children, and we taught our children to care for each other more than we care about our politics, that perhaps, just perhaps, we could create a world without the need for weapons.

Our kids, through the generosity of others, raised $560 today.
We'll be back next week.
I'll be better prepared to handle questions.
But I can't see that I could be any more proud of these kids and the community they are creating.

A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.
~ Mohandas K. Gandhi

The young, free to act on their initiative, can lead their elders in the direction of the unknown... The children, the young, must ask the questions that we would never think to ask, but enough trust must be re-established so that the elders will be permitted to work with them on the answers.

~ Margaret Mead

Storytelling and Peacebuilding

2010-08-02T22:27:00.000-04:00

I came across this link today. I haven't had time to explore it fully but I plan to.

Description from the site:

Peace-building storytelling activities for teachers, parents and adults who work with children.
Constructing and sharing stories of hope and peace, stories with nonviolent plots and happy win-win endings may lead us to create similar elements especially in relation to the lives of our children and maybe even in our own.

The great kindness challenge - August 14

2010-08-02T03:14:00.001-04:00

From here:
The Great Kindness Challenge is one day devoted to performing as many acts of kindness as possible. Our goal this year is to have over one million children participate. It is our hope that this day will inspire a lifelong commitment to service and kindness.
From sunup to sundown, children around the world will accomplish simple, kind deeds using The Great Kindness Challenge Checklist.
The checklist features 50 acts of kindness to choose from. Click here to download the checklist. Then just do what you can on August 14. Even the simplest acts can make a big difference in someone's life. And you just might be amazed at how fun it can be.
Do you belong to a group that could participate, or would you like to form one? We invite you to use The Great Kindness Challenge to perform group acts of kindness and have your own events to honor this special day.

Let's make our world a more kind, loving and compassionate place for all.

Check the Great Kindness Challenge website for more ideas and this post for some resources.

Raising Global Citizens

2010-08-01T13:08:00.001-04:00

If you are coming over from the Family Matters radio show - welcome!

You can hear Ryan and I being interviewed about youth activism and raising global citizens here. (It takes a while to load.)

To learn more about Nishin you can watch him on youtube here and here. You'll be blown away. He's awesome.

Foreign Policy Blog on Children

2010-07-22T03:17:00.000-04:00

Check out this blog for booklists, tips about talking to kids about world conflict, resources and information about the status of the world's children. A great resource for parents wanting to educate themselves about issues affecting children.

Contagious

2010-07-21T02:57:00.001-04:00

"If learning is embedded in real world context, where you blur the boundaries between school and life, then children go through a journey of aware where they can see the change, enabled where they can be changed and then empowered, lead the change." Kiran Sethi is the founder of a revolutionary new school in India, called The Riverside School. She’s changing the way we think about children, the way they think about themselves and her ideas are contagious!

What will matter

2010-07-12T23:22:00.009-04:00

What Will Matter
By Michael Josephson

Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end.
There will be no more sunrises, no days, no hours, or minutes.
All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten will pass on to someone else.
Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevant.
It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.
Your grudges, resentments, frustrations, and jealousies will finally disappear.
So, too, your hopes, ambitions, plans, and to-do lists will all expire.
The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.
It won’t matter where you come from, or on what side of the tracks you lived.
It won’t matter whether you are beautiful or brilliant.
Your gender, skin color, ethnicity will be irrelevant.

So, what will matter?
How will the value of your days be measured?

What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built.
Not what you got, but what you gave.
What will matter is not your success, but your significance.
What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught.
What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage and sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.
What will matter is not your competence, but your character.
What will matter is not how many people knew you,

but how many will feel a lasting loss when you’re gone.
What will matter is not your memories, but the memories of those who loved you.

What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.
Living a life that matters doesn’t happen by accident.
It’s not a matter of circumstance but of choice.
Choose to live a life that matters.

Found here

The dolls arrived

2010-07-08T03:39:00.001-04:00

Back in February our homeschool group participated in the Dolly Donation drive for Haitian orphans affected by the earthquake. I was blown away by the response from our group and happily packed up 37 beautiful handmade dolls.
The dolls were delayed by the logistics of moving goods into Haiti but they recently arrived. My kids were beyond thrilled to spot some of the dolls we sent and one of the ones we sewed among the pictures posted on Sarah's blog

Love. My. Djembe.

2010-07-07T02:31:00.004-04:00

Oh, the brave music of a distant drum!

~ Omar Khayyam

The kids (lucky!) got to do an African Drumming program today at a local library with a drummer, artist and storyteller. He began by having the kids listen to their heartbeat, to assure them that they have the rhythm in them. Then he introduced them to the drum and its history and lore. He taught them 3 basic drumming sequences by giving them each words to help the kids remember them. And after they practised he taught them how to answer the call of the drum, about the mother beat, tempo and poly rhythmic drumming. They were so excited to play. At the end of the session, he told them a Hyena and Hare story about a magic tree. It was a wonderful program and I was thrilled to have found it so soon after the kids were drumming in the park. I just wish I could have played. They all had so much fun and music is such a fantastic way to introduce kids to the connections between cultures.

Resources
To be a drum by Evelyn Coleman,
African crafts : fun things to make and do from West Africa by Lynne Garner,
Africa for kids : exploring a vibrant continent, 19 activities by Harvey Croze,
Africa is not a country by Margy Burns Knight,

Plant a Row

2010-07-04T00:12:00.002-04:00

We can be confident that action which is in accord with a few basic beliefs cannot be wrong and can at least testify to the values we will need to cultivate. These are the beliefs that the human race is a family that has inherited a place on the earth in common, that its members have an obligation to work toward sharing it so that none is deprived of the elementary needs for life, and that all have a responsibility to leave it undegraded for those who follow.

~ Gilbert F. White, Stewardship of the Earth,

This year marks our first as gardeners. We've been working a plot at our city's first community garden as our yard doesn't have enough sun to really grow a garden. It's been an amazing experience for the kids - and for me. They have a new connection to their food and an appreciation for the amount of effort it takes to put food on our table. It's given them a sense of responsibility and is a source of pride as they each harvest from "their" plants. The community aspect has been a powerful one for them. In the communal space, we've planted a blueberry bush whose fruit we may not harvest to "pay it forward" and to thank those gardeners before us who left blackberries and rhubarb and the beautiful raspberries.
We've also talked about food security issues. Even knowing that we have a thriving cherry tomato plant has given them an idea of how powerful growing our own food can be.

Our plot is small and packed full of many of the vegetables and herbs we eat regularly and while I don't think we will be able to feed our family of 6 from the garden, chances are good we may have some zucchini and tomatoes to share.

We're blessed with a few local programs which can help gardeners and those interested in the local food movement help others.

Plant a row ~ Grow a row is a program which matches gardeners with food banks who are happy to receive and pass on fresh local produce.

Our city also has a gleaning program where residents who have fruit or nut trees which may not be fully harvested can contact this organization and volunteers will pick the produce and donate it to the food bank or other community groups.

Sharing Backyards is a program which matches up people with unused gardening space with those who wish to garden but lack space. The land owner and the gardener each bring their resources to the table and share the harvest from the garden.

Resources:
I've listed a few here
Food for thought
Books for older kids
Food : ethical debates on what we eat by Jim Kerr,
Reducing your foodprint : farming, cooking, and eating for a healthy planet by Ellen Rodger,

G8 and peaceful protests

2010-07-01T12:40:00.002-04:00

Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.
~ Howard Zinn

This is how change happens, though. It is a relay race, and we're very conscious of that, that our job really is to do our part of the race, and then we pass it on, and then someone picks it up, and it keeps going. And that is how it is. And we can do this, as a planet, with the consciousness that we may not get it, you know, today, but there's always a tomorrow.
- Alice Walker

We were lucky enough to spend much of June at a family cottage not too far from the small city where the G8 meetings were happening. I hemmed and hawed about taking the kids in to town on the day of the meeting. I really wanted them to get a chance to see some of the protests but if things were to get violent or out of control I didn't know the city well enough to escape quickly or find a safe place. Without Internet access at the cottage I was limited to getting info via the radio or the newspapers. On Friday morning after hearing the news stations all reporting small, peaceful and creative protests and given that the risks seemed very low, I thought it was important for the kids to see and hear first hand about some of the things we had been talking about leading up to the G8. We arrived before noon, in time to see some protests staged in order to air on the noon news programs, and watched plenty of journalists jockey for stories and space. And then we wandered around town, listening to the locals discuss some of the issues. The police forces seemed to finally be exhaling as the day progressed without incident. The kids all chatted with various members of the force. We saw officers kidding with the clowns, and while they declined the free hugs, they did offer hearty handshakes.

The protesters were relatively small in number but they were creative and earnest in their appeals. World Vision had mimes of the world leaders on stilts, high above the crowds, waving symbolic money just out of the reach of of those below them. The Council of Canadians took a quintessential approach, trying to canoe past security. Locals, who had made water the focus for them, stood at their waterfront with signs and posters, proclaiming water as a right worth protecting. A group of young activists tried the positive approach, urging the world leaders to believe that the Millennium Development Goals are still achievable.

All of this lead to some great discussions with the kids about the ways we can impact our world, the purpose of governments, the responsibilities of citizens, the reasons for protests, the need for police and necessity that their powers must stay balanced and in check, particularly in view of the situations that occurred in Toronto at the G20.

G8 Encouraging kids to connect

2010-07-01T02:34:00.005-04:00

One of the things that was wonderful and a bit surprising, was the way that the community of Huntsville, and the activist community encouraged and facilitated participating and inclusion of kids into the G8 experience, and not only through displays like the SGI Culture of Peace display. There was a young man encouraging community drumming at the water front, activist art which people were invited to sign, community concerts, even clowns doing a bit of street protest theatre, bubble machines and sidewalk chalk.

My kids may remember some of the details of the protests we saw, but I am almost sure they will remember drumming in community as one way to be heard, or talking about how art can be more than just one person's expression, or listening to the community concert on the theme of water.

Global Village Voice

2010-05-30T02:57:00.000-04:00

Education, Activism and Resources for a Better World

Welcome to The Global Village Voice, where we’re bridging the worlds of education and activism – bringing together visionaries from the worlds of alternative education, humane education, homeschooling, peace, justice, diversity, sustainability, human rights, psychology, spirituality, indigenous issues, the arts, and life in general – to share information, inspiration, and thoughtful reflection.

So often the realms of education, activism, psychology, spirituality, etc. don’t have a lot to say to each other. We want this site to be a place that unites people from different worlds, a place for community-building, sharing of resources, and respectful exchange of ideas.

Book drive for literacy programs

2010-05-20T12:51:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago I was talking to our contact at the food warehouse where we volunteer to pack food boxes. There was mention of some items needed for First Nations communities in northern Canada and books was one of the items. I got thinking - it was time for spring cleaning and the homeschool group had a book sale coming up. Perhaps we could funnel our no longer needed books towards this organization who would provide books to 12 different communities to support literacy, enrichment and intervention programs.

And so on Friday our co-op friends unloaded boxes of books and sorted them into categories and then again into piles for each community. Some of us worked on books, and some of us worked packing boxes. And at the end the kids enjoyed more popsicles and listened to stories about how their work helps lots of different communities.

The more time we spend with this organization, the more opportunities we find for ways to help. There are plans in the works for other projects as well - handmade dolls to send up for Christmas gifts, collecting our soccer balls and shirts at the end of our season to support soccer programs, more box packing, and more book drives.

First Costa Rica...then the world

2010-05-14T02:50:00.002-04:00

Wednesday morning was our homeschool groups third annual World Expo. Each family chooses a country and puts together a display to educate our friends about the geography, history and culture of our destination. This year we used photos from last summer's trip to the Cleveland Botanical Gardens Costa Rica biome. The kids made a plasticine rain forest diorama. We served hearts of palm and pineapple (which really came from Costa Rica.) After we set up in our continents with our food and artifacts and display boards, the kids all received their passports and we spent the morning touring the world.

We chose to do Costa Rica this year, which, as it turns out, is a fascinating country. Some of the things we found most interesting:
25% of the country's land is set aside as environmentally protected space.
5% of the world's biodiversity exists in this space that represents only 0.1% of the earth's land. There is a 50,000 acre Children's Rain Forest Preserve which was established when Swedish children decided in 1987 to raise money to save the rain forest. The effort has grown and is still funded by donations from children around the world.
Costa Rica is a peaceful nation with no army (as written in their constitution) and it is home to the only United Nations university - which is called the University of Peace.
Costa Ricans just elected their first female President who was sworn in this week (how timely for our project).

I love this opportunity for my kids to study a country in depth and then talk with their friends about what they have learned - giving them a taste of world travel without leaving home.

Doors Open

2010-05-01T12:56:00.000-04:00

Every year our city runs a Doors Open program when interesting buildings open their doors to the public. In the past we have toured a number of churches and houses of worship as well as spaces we wouldn't always have access to. This year we managed a stop in at the Mosque, which was fascinating. A number of members of the Mosque gave presentations to visitors about the space and about their religion. We were invited to watch midday prayers and after could ask questions about what we saw. The mosque also provided snacks (very yummy samosas) as well as various samples of the Qur'an and other information about Islam that we were welcome to take home.

The oil spill - the tipping point

2010-04-29T01:18:00.002-04:00

One cannot be deeply responsive to the world without being saddened very often.
~ Erich Fromm

Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.
~ Talmud (attributed)

There have been horrific images of the BP Gulf oil spill on TV and in the papers.
And yet I have not looked at them.
I just can't.
I cannot bring myself to be informed on this issue, to figure out how to talk to my kids about it, to find a way to do something meaningful in the face of this crisis.
I am sure that the damage is astounding, the figures staggering, the prognosis bleak. And yet I doubt I would be surprised by it.

I am not one to stick my head in the sand. Usually.
But this time I just can't. I know the images will paralyze me. It will be my tipping point.
We created this spill with our demand for more and more oil. We are responsible.
I have decided that instead of facing this one head on, I will redouble my efforts to do what I can here. To drive less and bike or walk more. To reduce our use of plastics and eliminate disposables as much as we possibly can. To buy less, and to choose local and used over new and well travelled. To continue our efforts to make our home more energy efficient. To spend, save and give ethically.

The work I can do. The images, details, and powerlessness....I just can't.

Talking with children about the Oil Spill

Planting trees

2010-04-26T12:13:00.012-04:00

One of our family traditions is planting trees during earth week. It's something we have done every year for the last number of years and each year we plant more. This year we planted about 30 trees in the farmer's field not too far from our nature centre. The kids love to think about how their trees will look when they have their own kids. It provides a starting place to talk to them about not only curbing our use of paper, but also how long it takes for the trees to grow to the point that they can function as the lungs of our earth.

We've also been inspired by the story of Wangari Maathai about how tree planting is not only an environmental action. It can also be one of peace and hope.

Resources
Planting the trees of Kenya: the story of Wangari Maathai by Claire Nivola,
Wangari's trees of peace : a true story from Africa by Jeanette Winter,
We planted a tree by Diane Muldrow,
Grandpa and me on Tu B'Shevat by Marki Gold-Vukson,
The man who planted trees by Jean Giono, (also check out the National Film Board film production of this story).

Ecokids tree planting tips

Family Friendly Earth Week Activities

2010-04-20T12:39:00.000-04:00

This week we gathered with a group of friends to do a park clean up. The older kids immersed themselves (literally) in cleaning up the creek. Younger kids helped in the park and along the trail. The park had been cleaned recently - we were the second sweep and we still ended up with 12 bags of garbage.

Our city makes it easy for us to participate in this program during Earth Week, providing bags, gloves and garbage pick up services - as well as a gift of reusable mugs for participants. However it would be relatively simple to do this on a smaller scale.

Last week a nearby neighbourhood group had organized their own clean up event at a beautiful creek not too far from our house. In addition to the clean up activities, the group had organized a pot luck snack, a barbeque and some kids' activities.

Resources

Youthnoise tips for organizing an event

Youth Can

2010-04-08T10:51:00.001-04:00

As I dig deeper for opportunities for my children to expand their understanding of world issues, I am frankly blown away by the heroes that are all around us.

Last month I took Ryan to a program at a nearby high school. Michel Chikwanine, from Me to We, was speaking to the entire student population on their Youth Activism Day. Students in the school, had organized a full day of programming which included not only the key speaker, but also workshops about volunteering, activism, youth engagement and world issues. The organizations involved ran the gamut from Amnesty International and Oxfam to Right to Play and to Kiva loans and Katimavik and included workshops on song writing, journalism and social media to African drumming.

The initiative was student led and the school seemed to be a hotbed of social activism and youth engagement. Nishin Nathwani, another young man we've seen speak recently and his contemporaries were the organizing team and they had been congratulated by numerous adult activists, politicians and organizations for their efforts to make activism accessible and integrated into their school culture.

Michel's presentation was both funny and sad. A former child soldier from the Democratic Republic of Congo he talked about his journey to Canada and his life here, his father and his activism.

I sat in this school auditorium thinking back to my high school days and how unaware I was compared to the young people around me and how fascinating this group of kids are.

Resources:
Me to We

Please note Michel's video is for older children. Please preview before deciding whether to share with your children.

The boy who harnessed the wind

2010-03-29T00:42:00.022-04:00

While working on our lego project about wind energy the kids and I were inspired by the young man in this youtube video. The idea that he could take garbage and make something that could profoundly change the way of life for his village generated a lot of conversation about what we truly need, how we can get it and how not to be defeated by circumstance.

From Amazon:

Discarded motor parts, PVC pipe, and an old bicycle wheel may be junk to most people, but in the inspired hands of William Kamkwamba, they are instruments of opportunity. Growing up amid famine and poverty in rural Malawi, wind was one of the few abundant resources available, and the inventive fourteen-year-old saw its energy as a way to power his dreams. "With a windmill, we'd finally release ourselves from the troubles of darkness and hunger," he realized. "A windmill meant more than just power, it was freedom." Despite the biting jeers of village skeptics, young William devoted himself to borrowed textbooks and salvage yards in pursuit of a device that could produce an "electric wind." The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is an inspiring story of an indomitable will that refused to bend to doubt or circumstance. When the world seemed to be against him, William Kamkwamba set out to change it.

Rainbows, hugs and pink balloons

2010-03-12T17:07:00.001-05:00

One of my favourite magazines sends out weekly emails of stories they are featuring.
This one, about celebrating birthdays in simple and meaningful ways arrived in my inbox today. It's timely as our family heads into birthday season and I am listening closely to my kids real wishes and trying to drown out the idea that birthdays need to be equated with "buy, buy buy". My friend Emma has a gift for creating special celebrations for her family birthdays,with hand madegifts and beautiful gestures.

I remember one year when he was about 4 Colin wanted a rainbow and a hug for Christmas. Santa obliged with a rainbow playsilk from the Waldorf school store, and a beautiful book about hugs. He could not have been happier.

Even among mindful parents I know we can use the reminder that what children need is for us to buy less and be with them more.

What is a birthday? It is an opportunity to celebrate the life and the development of a person. Do my children need to see a table covered with a pile of wrapped toys in order to know that their family and friends are delighted and honored that they share this lifetime with us? Somewhere in our consumer culture, we have confused “presents,” material items, with expressions of love and gratitude.

Growing Up Global

2010-03-09T08:40:00.000-05:00

Run, don't walk, to your local bookstore and order this book. I'll wait here.

This book is exactly what I want this blog to be. Full of resources and ideas about how to expand our children's world even if we can't hop on a plane.

The book is written by a mother who wanted to bring more of the world to her daughter's lives. Starting with the idea that children can learn to be a friend to the whole human race, the book relates what friends would do as they get to know each other. Opening with a chapter called Be a Friend, the author Homa Sabet Tavangar reminds us of basic principles of how to make friends from different parts of the world - everything from remembering to separate a person from regional politics, to learning how to properly pronouce and use a new friend's name. There are lots of suggestions about how to expand your family's circle to include people you may not otherwise come in contact with.

Other chapers, entitled Greet Your Friend, Play, Go to School, Watch the World - Read a Movie, and Break Bread give excellent suggestions for activities and resources to help your family beome immersed in other cultures through language, games, sports, food, stories, music, movies and education. The chapters Celebrate and What Do They Believe delve into religion and culture, always with the goal of finding common ground and teaching children how to connect in respectful, genuine ways. The last chapter called Sustain Your Friendship talks about ways to put education and connection into action to widen our circle through giving and service, using the Millenium Development Goals as the starting point.

This book weaves through threads of respect and caring for both the children it aims to educate and the ideas, cultures and people it highlights. The ideas are easy to implement, the resources it recommends are excellent and incredibly thorough and applicable to a wide age range. It is an inspiring resource to help your children become citizens of the world.

Crafts around the world

2010-03-08T18:23:00.001-05:00

Over at Crafty Crow this month, there are posts for "travelling" using recipes and crafts. Lots of fun.

Encouraging Simplicity in Kids

2010-03-07T11:11:00.003-05:00

There's a great blog post here about ways to encourage kids to live simply. I particularly like the idea about changing our language from "I want" or "I need" to "I like", which implies less attachment and less urgency.

Yesterday we took the kids to the mall - which happens about once or twice a year. We wanted to participate in an engineering program which was supposed to have been held in the mall but was unfortunately cancelled. While we were there we needed to look for a new kettle, get birthday presents for Gran and a cousin.

We traipsed from one end of the mall to the other in search of a simple stove top kettle that was 1) under $100 and 2) not made in China of cheap materials. No luck. But we did have plenty of time to talk about why malls are laid out like they are, the effect of advertising and image, and why there were so many people in a mall on a beautiful Saturday morning (the parking lot was full!).

I think my kids get it. I think they understand the role of advertising in their lives, the impact of a consumer culture in the lives of others and the choices we make. But I fully admit that they are still young and easily protected from the pull of those forces which are so ingrained in our culture. The hard work on those issues is still in front of us.

Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood

What is enough?

2010-03-02T00:38:00.041-05:00

A few years ago my children were involved in a program and came home with an Enough Pledge. It was a wonderful tool to talk to kids about what is "enough", and how that looks different depending on where we live. We talked a lot about living simply so that we could share the earth's resources. The pledge is no longer stuck to our fridge, unfortunately and I haven't been able to find it again. Luckily there are lots of other great resources to spark a lot of conversation about what is enough, what is fair, what we have in common and what our cultures value. Each book highlights families from around the world with their homes, possessions and weekly food supplies.

What the World Eats or the Hungry Planet

Homes Around the World

Material World

My kids are fascinated by the differences in lifestyles around the world and are developing a growing awareness of the implications that has for our planet in creating peace and sustainability.

This month I'll be watching a movie called Consuming Kids with some girlfriends and exploring simplicity resources, how the call to consume affects so much of our lives, and how to teach our kids to think about what they truly need.

Volunteering as a family

2010-02-24T02:18:00.001-05:00

Over time volunteering has become more and more important in our family and in my kids' education. As we have become more involved in our community and my kids have become more aware of the needs around them, and as they have gotten older, volunteering has naturally evolved into a regular family activity.

There are amazing benefits that come from volunteering.
~ It exposes kids to other ways of living. By dedicating their time to organizations which provide services to people with fewer economic resources, my kids have gained an appreciation that not everyone lives with all the amenities they have. Other volunteers talk to the kids about different passions, different choices and different viewpoints.
~ It also exposes them to potential mentors, other adults who care about the things they care about and who appreciate the efforts and connections my kids are making. This has become more important as my kids get older and I want them to connect with adults that model ways of living their values.
~ Volunteering gives my kids a sense of both power and accomplishment. They love to tell their grandmother about the number of food boxes packed, or trees planted, or hours spent with seniors. When faced with a challenge or a story about a problem, my kids initial reaction is now "How do we fix this? What can we do?" It is becoming part of their natural assumption that they have the responsibility, power and the opportunity to make a difference. I think this helps them not feel paralysed when something like the Haiti earthquake happens. They feel powerful to make a positive contribution.
~ It also connects them to their community in a variety of ways. The trees we plant become part of "our" forest. They check the food bank bins at the grocery store to see what we could donate and to make sure that no one has mistaken them for a garbage can. They clean up trails as we walk, put away garbage cans for the neighbours whose walks we shovel, pick up books off the floor at the children's library because they feel a sense of ownership and responsibility for these spaces.

We've been lucky in our community that there are a number of organizations which welcome the contributions of kids. Finding opportunities to volunteer with young kids can be a challenge. But you don't have to start with a structured organization to introduce your kids to the concept of giving back to your community. There are plenty of informal ways you can model that lifestyle for your kids:
~ organize a clean up day at a favourite park or trail and invite friends
~ shovel your elderly or busy neighbours walks,
~ have them help choose food and deliver it directly to the food bank
~ invite them to participate in the discussion about and the act of donating
~ stay after a meeting or church to clean up chairs or toys
~ take flowers or cookies or magazines to a senior's home to share

Other things our friends with younger families do:
~ volunteer for non-profit thrift stores to sort and count game and puzzle pieces,
~ deliver meals on wheels
~ become reading buddies at a neighbourhood group or school
~ participate in toy cleaning at toy libraries
~ help with the garden fresh box to sort and pack produce prior to delivery
~ helping with the general maintenance and clean up of community garden space
~ helping at CSAs (community supported agriculture) - maintenance, picking, packing, sorting etc

How do you make volunteering and integral family value?
~Nurture compassion in your children. Help them notice the situations others face and give them some ideas or opportunities to help.
~ Talk about your own volunteering and why it is important to you.
~ Acknowledge their efforts and ideas and find a way to help them make things happen. They may not be able to pull off the full scale concert that they are planning but perhaps they could busk at the farmer's market and donate their takings.
~ Create a culture of pitching in in your own family so that everyone does their part and supports each other.
~ Realize that we all want to feel needed and as though we have a purpose. Find ways to honour and support that in our children.

Ways to make volunteering a success:

~ Choose opportunities that your kids are passionate about, or which have a natural connection to your daily life so that your children are engaged from the get go.
~ Be realistic about what they can do and look for opportunities where they can succeed. A very busy 3 year old will probably do better helping to spot garbage on a hiking trail than in a situation which requires them to contain their energy and enthusiasm.
~ Prep your kids. Talk to them about the expectations for appropriate behaviour. Teach them that volunteering is a gift we give to others but also to ourselves and that the situation deserves our best efforts. One of the places we pack boxes has a wonderful way of talking with the children about packing with love and respect so that the recipients will feel our care when they open the boxes. While volunteering should be fun, it is not a time for boisterous play or to forget our purpose.
~ Keep it short. With younger kids, and even with older ones, an hour or so of focused effort is fantastic. Kids will leave enthusiastic about what they accomplished and willing to do more.
~ Celebrate! Help your kids understand what their efforts mean. Call the grandparents and share about the day's activities, write it down in the family journal, have ice cream for dessert.
~ Share the appreciation. While organizations love volunteers, remember to thank the organizations for allowing you the opportunity to serve together as a family and to model action for your children.

If not me, who? If not now, when?

2010-02-22T22:55:00.000-05:00

I can't wait to see this in its entirety. It moves me to tears - just these five minutes.

Making Friends

2010-02-21T19:06:00.008-05:00

I am regularly amazed and inspired by people I encounter who find ways to make a difference in their communities or in the broader world. Sarah of Dolly Donations is one of those people. She hit upon a wonderful idea to share some handmade love and found a way to make it work. I wish I remember how I came across her blog. As soon as I saw it, I knew I'd be making dolls for an orphanage in Haiti. And so I mentioned it to a few friends. And those friends inspired and overwhelmed me with their willingness to create and to give.

This week, just about every time we saw friends, I was handed bags with small gifts of love, gently sewn into rag dolls. And this weekend we are sending out 37 dolls to the Abundant Ground Foundation who will deliver them to Haiti and into the hands of the children they were made for. The gifts are both humble and profound, made by children sitting on the laps of adults as they sew and stuff, or by mamas who tucked their own children into bed and then stitched together some hope and love for children living a world away. As I embroidered smiles on small brown faces to make friends for children I will never meet, I was thinking that what all of us really want is to make their world right, with a mother to tuck them in safely and sing them to sleep. The dolls are a small substitute for that love but hopefully they will bring some smiles and comfort into the world of those children. I think my friend Joanna said so it beautifully.

I am not kidding myself that this will change very much in their hard lives. I know, though, that if my little ones ever found themselves without me there to care for them, I would be overcome with gratitude if another Mama, somewhere in the world, shared a little bit of her hand made love with my children.

The language of friendship is not words but meanings.
~ Henry David Thoreau

World Day of Social Justice

2010-02-20T15:17:00.001-05:00

The child becomes largely what it is taught; hence we must watch what we teach it, and how we live before it.
~Jane Addams

In 2009 The UN declared February 20th World Day of Social Justice. Governments meeting at that Summit pledged to make poverty eradication, the goal of full employment and the fostering of social integration overriding objectives of development.

It's a huge topic to talk to kids about. What does it mean to have a fair society? What stands in the way of that? And most importantly what can we do about it? What do we need to learn about in order to make changes?

As a family one of the things we talk about our assumptions and how those influence what kinds of decisions we make. If we assume that everyone has the same access to education, to wages, to food, to safe places to live, then we may not make decisions that are inclusive and respectful. If we assume everyone experiences things like we do, as people who were born here and learned English as our first language, who look like most of the people in our city look and who have not had to learn about the culture here, then we might think the way people treat us is the way people treat all our friends and neighbours.

I find social justice tricky to talk about, in part because the term covers so much ground and in part because it challenges the kids assumptions that all people value each other regardless of colour, religion, socioeconomic status, language etc. But books always help and therese are a few we have enjoyed recently. And every time I close the cover of a book and look at my children I realize that my job is mostly to nuture the innate sense of justice and fairness and good that they were born with - to keep my own prejudices and assumptions and fears out of the way so that they can continue to grow in ways that will make all the difference.

The Magic Beads by Susan Nielsen-Fernlund
Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts and illustrated by Noah Z. Jones
A child's garden: a story of hope by Michael Foreman,
Mrs. Katz and Tush by Patricia Polacco
The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi

(More at Teaching for Change)

More Resources

The Free Child Project

Cooperative Games for Social Change

Making Cents of Priviledge

And a little hard work for parents Part 1 and Part 2

Wherever there are beginners and experts, old and young, there is some kind of learning going on, some kind of teaching. We are all pupils and we are all teachers.
~ Gilbert Highet

Random acts of kindness

2010-02-14T03:59:00.001-05:00

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
~ Leo Buscaglia

Before we were struck down by various sorts of illness in our house the last week or so, we had plans to do something each day before valentines day to show people we appreciate them. I am hoping that by Monday we will all be well again and able to take part in Random Acts of Kindness Week.
There is a long list of ideas to jumpstart our acts of kindness week.

On my list:
~ write thank you letters to a few organizations which do work I would like to support and recognize.
~ make some simple gestures to show appreciation to community members and neighbours.
~ become more aware of opportunities to practise kindness and to talk to my kids about it.

In doing some research I came across this article from the Seeds of Compassion website that is absolutely worth exploring.

Kindness can become its own motive. We are made kind by being kind.
~ Eric Hoffer

Resources
The Child's World of Kindness by Moncure, Jane Belk.
Kindness by Pryor, Kimberley Jane, 1962-
Paulie Pastrami achieves world peace by James Proimos,
For parents
Above All Be Kind by Zoe Weil
On kindness by Adam Phillips,

Kindness trumps greed: it asks for sharing. Kindness trumps fear: it calls forth gratefulness and love. Kindness trumps even stupidity, for with sharing and love, one learns.
~ Marc Estrin

Black History Month

2010-02-09T11:34:00.002-05:00

February marks Black History Month in Canada and the US. It's a great time to talk to your kids about what history is and why we mark the history of a specific group at a specific time.

Some ideas to celebrate and educate.
~ Watch Black Like Me, Separate but Equal, The Rosa Parks Story or Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and discuss with your kids. Find more film suggestions here.
~ Celebrate scientific achievements of black inventors and scientists whose advancements brought us everything from peanut butter to blood banking.
~ Read together. Here's a great book list and a long list of other book lists to choose from.
~ If you have a group of kids you can try some of these activities:
Anti Racism activity using Dr Seuss's The Sneetches
Why Frogs and Snakes Never Play Together
~ Check your community for a gallery, musuem or concert venue which may be hosting an exhibition of some sort to honour Black History.
~ Use music, art and food to create a celebration of black culture and history.
~ Watch this Brainpop video about the impact of the Harlem Renaissance.

Teaching Tolerance Resources
History of Black History Month
Spririt of Greensboro
Time for Kids Black History Month Edition
Surfkids Black History resources

Raising Awareness of Homelessness

2010-02-08T17:16:00.001-05:00

Find out more here.

The Girl Effect

2010-02-08T09:48:00.004-05:00

The Girl Effect

Girls hold up this world by Jada Pinkett,
The Girl Effect Facebook Page (more videos here)
See it in action - Watch Beatrice and read her story Beatrice's Goat by Page McBrier
Beatrice Biira is a young, poor woman from Uganda who was able to leave her village in Africa and attend an American prep school -- all with the help of a goat.

Heroes and Inspiration

2010-02-05T18:52:00.004-05:00

I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.
~Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
A week ago Ryan and I went to a talk by Greg Mortenson, author of the books Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools. Greg's organization, Central Asia Institute and Pennies for Peace are dedicated to promoting and supporting community-based education, especially for girls, in remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan

Thursday's presentation was held up but weather and Greg seemed a bit flustered but the talk was interesting in any case.

The key point of his message was that education, particularly of girls, is fundamental to eradicating poverty and promoting because it stabilizes population growth, increases a family's income substantially and girls with an education tend to educate their elders and their children in ways educated boys do not. It's also his theory that educated women are less likely to allow/encourage their sons to fight and have the resources to give them other opportunities.

He said that North Americans are basically uneducated about the ways of the world and how those other ways may actually be better than our own. He talked about the transmission of stories and traditions from elders to kids and how in Canada when he asks the question in school about how many kids spend a lot of time with their grandparents or other elders only about 10 percent put up their hands - in the US it is about 5% and in Afghanistan it is about 90%. He encourages kids to study another language and immerse themselves in another culture if they can. He told stories about growing up in Africa in a very diverse culture and coming back to the US where he learned about racism here.

He also talked about how important it was for community buy-in to projects - and for solutions and leadership to come from the community that is being served. He requires something like 5,000 hours of community work in order to fund a school and believes that is one of the reasons that his schools are often left alone by the Taliban - because the community is so invested in it that they protect it with all they have.

The talked confirmed much of what I had already read and knew but the real value was in chatting with Ryan about how one thing can change your life and one person can make such a difference. We got talking about another talk we had been to a few years ago, with Craig Kielberger where the message was basically the same. It's so important to me to provide my kids with inspiration and heroes that portray what really matters.

The greatest personalities that ever existed have been those who united human beings and put them on the road toward cooperation and effectiveness and peace. Those whom the world has held highest have helped to unite and not sever interconnectedness. They have not been the destroyers of differences but the harmonizer of differences.
~ John Lovejoy Elliott

Resources:
The hero's trail : a guide for a heroic life by TA Barron,
Paths to peace : people who changed the world by Jane Breskin Zalben,
Peaceful heroes by Jonah Winter,
The purpose of boys : helping our sons find meaning, significance, and direction in their lives by Michael Gurian,
Heroes and she-roes : poems of amazing and everyday heroes by J Patrick Lewis,
Kidhaven's young hereos series
How to Raise a Hero

The Story of Food

2010-02-01T23:25:00.010-05:00

Right now, if you go to the produce section of any supermarket – anyone at all – and buy fruit or vegetables, or cottage cheese, or meat, you would have to eat something like five times as much of that food to get the same amount of vitamins and minerals as your parents or grandparents got in the 1950s.
Canadian writer and journalist Thomas Pawlick

Like the Story of Stuff, this short animated film called The Story of Food highlights the issues that come from not thinking enough about what we are consuming - in this case food.

The need to balance priorities and values can be a challenging one. Food budgets are often one place families can exercise some level of flexibility and many of the ecological and sustainable choices can be more expensive. It can be overwhelming to navigate choices when choosing one often means sacrificing another. Is it better nutritionally and environmentally to by local or organic? If you are new to these ideas the who thing can leave your head spinning.

Over the past few years our family has been slowly integrating changes into our diet. We've always shopped at our local farmer's market for things like local vegetables and fruits, eggs, cheeses and honey. (This has the added benefit of almost no packaging on these items, or packaging that is reusable and sustainable.) I canned far more this fall than I ever have meaning that more and more of our staples are local, many are organic. I have been finding more local sources for items like flour and have been investing more time making our own bread and yogurt. With a new freezer in the plans I hope to be able to freeze more of our winter needs - vegetables like peppers, beans, broccoli and corn, and fruits like berries, and peaches.
I'd love to try gardening but need to be realistic about what we could hope to achieve in our postage sized lot that sits in full shade all summer long.

But there are more things we could do:

~ Grow some of our own food - a small plot of greens, herbs in a window sill, tomatoes in a pot in a sunny corner, or plan a bigger garden if you have the space.

~ The movement to urban homesteading is huge. Use google to see if there is an organization or an urban farm you can visit.

~ Find out about community garden space, garden sharing programs and support these projects in our communities.

~ Grow heritage varieties, save and trade seeds, ask local farmers about whether they use heritage seeds and how you can support them.

~ Get to know local sources; CSAs, farmer's markets, local farm stands and support these enterprises.

~ Make more of your own food. Technology like bread machines and yogurt makers mean we can have fresh food, free from preservatives with a minimal amount of effort.

~ Teach our kids about food and help them establish a connection to it. We've been lucky to be able to tour local goat farms, apiaries, dairies. We are able to pick apples and berries each year for freezing and canning, help friends with their back yard chickens, meet the farmers who grow the tomatoes we can and who press the cider we drink.

~ Talk about the decisions we are making and why.

~ Tour the supermarket to see where food comes from. It can be a bit frightening.

Resources:
~ Food, Inc. [videorecording DVD] / Magnolia Pictures,
~ Omnivore's dilemma (Young Reader's Edition) by Michael Pollan,
~ Fast food nation: the dark side of the all-American meal by Eric Schlosser
~ Scientifically engineered foods: the debate over what's on your plate by Allan Cobb,
~ Farmers market by Carmen Parks,
~ WWF's Biodiversity educational resources
~Resources for Rethinking
~ The Edible Schoolyard (some of the recipes and lesson plans are fun).

Dolls for Haiti

2010-01-31T14:35:00.003-05:00

If you are a crafter and want some way to send a bit of homemade love to children in Haiti, then this may be the organization for you.

Through the Abundant Ground Foundation is a wonderful organization that has an orphanage in Haiti housing 181 children between the ages of birth to 12. They also provide food and necessary items to displaced families through their Abundant Ground in Haiti program. They would love to be able to give Dolly Donation Dollies top all of their orphans and will ship them to Haiti on the 14 March 2010.

They need 103 Girl Dollies and 78 Boy Dollies. If the organizers exceed the target, the dolls will be distributed to other Haitian orphanages and organizations so that they get into the hands of the children who need our love.

The blog, linked above, has patterns, tutorials, FAQs and the mailing address for the donations.

I have been thinking about the children of Haiti every day, wishing there was some tangible way to send our love. I'm so glad to have found one way.

Ways to celebrate National Literacy Day

2010-01-28T02:24:00.008-05:00

Today is Canada's national family literacy day and there have been events at libraries, schools and community centres across the country. In addition to revelling in some favourite books, today is a great day to talk about how important literacy and education are in changing the world.
Did you know that as of the year 2000 almost a billion people are unable to read a book or sign their names? Or that what the world spends on weapons each year would have been enough to put every child into school by the year 2000? And yet it didn’t happen.*

What can you do as a family to make a difference?
~ Organize a book drive to benefit your community. Check with literacy centres, public health, libraries, food banks or schools to find appropriate recipients.

~ Donate to literacy charities. Through Care Canada $36 will send a child to school for a year. Or you can donate a set of textbooks for $7 through the American version of the Care website. Greg Mortenson's organization is another excellent one to choose. Or donate to local literacy organizations and programs. One of our local used bookstores allows you to donate your credits to the local literacy council, which provides them with funding and a source of discounted books on topics relevant to their needs.

~ Buy your books from Better World Books which supports literacy programs around the world.

~ Volunteer to read at a school, senior's centre or adult literacy centres. Become a tutor or a reading buddy.

~ Celebrate literacy with your own children. Have poetry tea parties, throw birthday parties for favourite characters, frame illustrations from favourite but worn out books, start a book club or a book review blog, bake cookies for your favourite librarian, provide allowance in the form of book store gift certificates.

~ Write your politicians about the importance of education in eradicating poverty, disease and violence around the world and urge them to support local and global programs with those goals.

~ Read.

Books:
The Wednesday surprise by Eve Bunting, Eve,
The day of Ahmed's secret : Florence Parry Heide,
Read for me, Mama by Vashanti Rahaman,
The lion's share by Chris Conover,
Raising Sweetness by Diane Stanley,
Mr. George Baker by Amy Hest,
Aunt Chip and the great Triple Creek dam affair by Patricia Polacco,
Listen to the wind : the story of Dr. Greg and Three cups of tea by Greg Mortenson,

* statistics from here

Howard Zinn 1922- 2010

2010-01-28T01:55:00.001-05:00

Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.
~ Howard Zinn

Howard Zinn, author, historian, and social critic died Wednesday of a heart attack.

We need to decide that we will not go to war, whatever reason is conjured up by the politicians or the media, because war in our time is always indiscriminate, a war against innocents, a war against children.
~ Howard Zinn

National Red Scarf Day January 31st, 2008

2010-01-27T11:02:00.001-05:00

In 2008, Hannah Taylor, Founder of the Ladybug Foundation, which works to support the homeless community, was invited by the Senate and all the Members of Parliment to Ottawa to launch Canada's first ever National Red Scarf Day on January 31st, 2008.

History was made in Ottawa on that day when all the Senate and Members of Parliment gave a standing ovation in support of the same cause on the same day. Together Ottawa and Canada showed their support by wearing Ladybug Foundation Red Scaves on January 31st.

What can you do?
~ Buy a scarf to support the Ladybug Foundation.
~ Collect winter clothing, boots, gloves, and hats and donate to a shelter.
~ Help your children make red scarves from fleece to donate and raise awareness.
~ Read to your children about homelessness.

Hannah's Story

2010-01-27T10:30:00.000-05:00

At the age of 5, Hannah Taylor spotted her first homeless person in the back alleys of Winnipeg. This experience not only troubled her, but it drove her to do nothing less than change the world. The Ladybug Foundation, the charity Hannah helped establish, has raised over a million dollars to date. With her huge heart and can-do attitude, she preaches a simple message of "Share a little of what you have and always care about others." As this short documentary proves, we all have a lot to learn from Hannah's story.

Watch on Canada's NFB Website

Read more about The Ladybug Foundation here

Homelessness

2010-01-27T03:35:00.002-05:00

Whenever we visit a larger city we inevitably end up having a conversation about homelessness with the kids.
As with so many social issues, it can be hard to convey the nuances of the situations with the kids. The root causes of homelessness are huge. However, over time, I've grown to appreciate how sophisticated my kids are in their ability to understand and think through these sorts of issues.

These encounters have sparked so many interesting conversations. We have talked about how illness, either mental or addiction, is at the route of so much of the homelessness. We have talked about the supports our community and governments put in place and how they help, and why they fail sometimes. We've talked about choice and rights. Should homeless people be allowed to live on the streets? How much authority should a government have over some one's choices - should we be able to force them to go inside when it is cold? We've talked about what is helpful. Should we give money or food to homeless people directly knowing it may actually encourage them to stay on the streets or should we support shelters and other programs that work to get homeless people off the street? How do homeless people feel when we help them or when we walk by them?

In talking through these issues with the kids, we get a chance to think critically, to try to imagine what issues the homeless in our communities face and we can brainstorm about ways we can help.

Here are a few ideas we have talked about in order to help:

~ With your kids, research what support services are available in your area and see how you can help through donations, volunteering or activism.

~ Make up personal care bags with things like warm socks, gloves and hats, granola bars, bottled water, tooth brush and tooth paste, comb or brush, small first aid kit, shower curtain or rain poncho, gift cards for restaurants and have them to give to homeless people you encounter.

~ Gather unused winter clothing, boots, shoes, hats, gloves etc and donate to a shelter. Run a blanket or sleeping bag drive if there is an organization that can use them.

~ Model treating all people with respect and dignity. One of the kindest things you can do is acknowledge them and teach your children that their compassion is a wonderful gift.

Resources:
Fly away home by Eve Bunting, (good activities page to accompany this)
Lily and the paper man by Rebecca,Upjohn,
The Lady in the Box by Ann McGovern
Fly! by Christopher Myers,
The teddy bear by David McPhail,
Great joy by Kate DiCamillo,
A Kids' Guide to Hunger & Homelessness: How to Take Action! ~ Cathryn Berger Kaye

For older kids
Gracie's girl by Ellen Wittlinger,
Shattered by Eric Walters,
December by Eve Bunting,
Lives turned upside down : homeless children in their own words and photographs by Jim Hubbard,

LinksTalking to your kids about homelessness
Fact Sheets for Kids on Homelessness (American information, but age appropriate)

Article on Raising Global Citizens

2010-01-26T01:46:00.000-05:00

Raising Global Citizens: A treasure trove of ideas for opening your child's eyes to the world. The link is at the bottom of the page.

Tasting activism

2010-01-25T01:42:00.003-05:00

If you give me a fish you have fed me for a day. If you teach me to fish then you have fed me until the river is contaminated or the shoreline seized for development. But if you teach me to organize then whatever the challenge I can join together with my peers and we will fashion our own solution.
~ Ricardo Levins Morales

Saturday I took three of my kids to the political rally to protest the prorogation of Parliament. We've been watching Rick's Rants and talking a lot about how our government works and the kids were quite disturbed by Prime Minister Harper's... ahem.... approach to democracy and felt we should do something to voice our concern. So we did.

Luck of the draw

2010-01-24T23:22:00.000-05:00

(A 5 minute exercise to get the feel of what extreme poverty is like:)

In our world, one of every six people lives on less than a dollar a day.
What does it mean to live on less than a dollar a day? What would your life look like?

Greg Mortensen on CBC today

2010-01-24T21:18:00.002-05:00

Sunday Edition's Michael Enright interviewed Greg Mortensen, author of Three Cups of Tea, Listen to the wind: the story of Dr. Greg and Three cups of tea, and Stones into Schools (which I am not so patiently waiting for from our library). He's fascinating and inspiring, and I often wonder if he is a bit overwhelmed by the fame generated through his good works. Listening to him explain why he won't accept government money or a movie deal based on his books and his work only made me admire him more.

Note: the audio hasn't been loaded to Sunday Edition's site yet but I expect it will be tomorrow.

Raising Global Citizens - Cultivating Geographical Awareness

2010-01-24T12:43:00.001-05:00

When Socrates was asked where he came from, he said that he was a citizen of the world. He regarded himself as a citizen of the universe.
~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

Understanding physical geography is the basis for understanding culture, politics, climate. It provides a mental for history and current events and a context for environmental science.

Here are a few ideas and resources for learning physical geography.

Get your hands on a good globe and large world map and have them handy. Some friends put world map under plastic on the kitchen table, some place them strategically in the bathroom or turn them into shower curtains, or on the ceiling in a bedroom. But any wall space will do.

Use the map to locate and mark any number of things - where friends are traveling, locations of current events, the settings of favourite stories or movies, the path of the Olympic flame, where Matt has been, the migration paths of favourite animals, birds or butterflies, the contents of a stamp collection, the country of origin for all the ethnic restaurants in your city.

Join a postcard exchange. Once you have put the word out to relatives, friends, relative and neighbours, there are plenty of groups on line which will allow you to send and receive postcards from around the world. One of my favourites is this one. And here's an article from Home Education Magazine about using postcards to enhance geography knowledge.

Play Extreme Geography. Using a good atlas or Google plot the locations of the hottest and coldest places on earth, the longest river, highest mountain, biggest lake, smallest country, most remote island, most and least densely populated cities, active volcanoes.

Use passions to relate to geography. Love hockey? Then find out where players on your favourite team were born. Collect stamps or coins? Do you have one from every continent or every capital city in Europe? Follow a certain band? Find out where are they touring this year.

Send in a formal request the international Tooth Fairy who will bring coins from the countries she has visited that night.

Learn to geocache and letterbox.

Put together geography puzzles. We have a few favourites including one of 200+ flags of the world and this one and some regional Ravensburger puzzles.

Play Globetrotting (a twister like game using a world map rather than coloured dots). After the game leave the map on the floor and build the CN Tower and the Great Wall of China, put your toys trees in the rainforest or Redwood forest and lay out your shell collection in the Great Barrier Reef.

Other good physical geography board and computer games we've enjoyed:
Where in the World? by Aristoplay Games
Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
Artifact
DK Become a World Explorer.
There are lots of options online as well.

Make a rhyme. The other night the kids were asking me where I was going after dinner. We had been discussion geography so I started rhyming our friends names with places in the world: Mozambique with Monique, Bali with Molly which sent them scurrying for the atlas to see what else they could come up with. Some fun geography poetry books:
A world of wonders: geographic travels in verse and rhyme by Patrick Lewis,
Got geography!: poems
Wish you were here (and I wasn't) : a book of poems and pictures for globe-trotters by Colin McNaughton,

If The World Were a Village

2010-01-22T00:38:00.000-05:00

As our budget doesn't allow for jetting around the world, we use a lot of books and dvds to travel the world and learn about diversity and the things we have in common.

This is one of my favourite (and my kids' favourite) books:
If the World Were A Village and DVD which you can preview here.

There are educator resources available at the author's website.

Another Haiti Resource

2010-01-21T00:11:00.002-05:00

Teaching for Change is offering this book as a free download.

Treehugging

2010-01-20T16:52:00.006-05:00

Our city is in the process of cutting 52 mature 100 year old trees from the park along the river. It will radically change the look of the park as 15% of the trees will be gone within a week or two. There were injunctions, protests, consultants, vigils, lots of letters to the editors and now the trees are marked with big orange Xs and hung with signs of appreciation and poems.

I took my kids to see them today and take some pictures of the park which has looked the same basically all my life.

And we talked about what we could do to help the park and the urban tree canopy in general. We have plans for more tree planting in the spring but will be looking for other things we can do as well.

Resources
~ The man who planted trees (CBC video)
~ Behold the trees by Sue Alexander,
~ The forgotten forest by Laurence Anholt
~ Someday a tree by Eve Bunting,
~ Wangari's trees of peace : a true story from Africa by Jeanette Winter,

National Geographic's Geography Action

2010-01-20T03:03:00.001-05:00

National Geographic's Geography Action is an educator's resource which includes huge downloadable maps and hands on activites to learn about the geography of the continents.

Every Culture

2010-01-20T02:57:00.000-05:00

Every Culture is a great place to find information on (almost?) every country in the world.

All Roads Film Festival

2010-01-20T02:52:00.000-05:00

National Geographic's All Roads Film Project provides platforms for international, indigenous and underrepresented minority culture artists to showcase their stories through the power of film and photography.

You can buy a compilation dvd here or check your local library or independent video store for these titles.

Grinning at Joy

2010-01-19T10:30:00.001-05:00

This is the best kind of voyeurism, hearing joy from your neighbors.
~ Chuck Sigars,

This video has made the internet rounds for well over a year. We watch it regularly at our house and often trace some or all of the journey on a map or the globe. It's a fantastic way to travel the world in a few minutes.

But it is more than that. It has a power and a lesson that goes deeper. It shows people from countries and cultures all around the world, who look a lot like us and our friends, dancing, joyfully, acting silly, grinning at the opportunity to be a part of something larger than themselves and make a connection, both local and global. It never fails to make me and my kids smile and make us feel connected to everyone else who has grinned and danced with the video on the computer.

Watch more of Matt and his journey here. (Note: not all content/language on the journal is young child friendly.)

Something to think about today

2010-01-18T03:52:00.000-05:00

I believe that it may be only the power and nurturance of mothers that can heal our planet right now. As mothers we must refuse to raise our children to kill other mothers’ children, assert that there is more than enough to go around and figure out how to get it around, and commit to the safe development of every mother’s child. I believe we have a sacred obligation to envision and then work towards a tomorrow that is full of possibility for all.
- Susan Hay and her son Reilly from mothers acting up

Visit mothers acting up and sign up for their daily call to action.

Free the Children

2010-01-18T01:22:00.003-05:00

Mark and Craig Kielburger's Free the Children Charity has spun off a campaign called 10 in 10. By committing to up to 10 actions to make the world a better place, you can generate funds for the charity's overseas community development work through the Aviva Foundation.

Find out more here.

The Power of Generosity

2010-01-17T22:26:00.002-05:00

I've been reading the Power Of Generosity by Dave Toycen and came across this quote:

Children have an uncanny way of connecting their thoughts with their actions. For them, if you really mean it, you will do something about it. As adults, we sometimes fail to act because we see all the complexities. It's not uncommon for our knowledge to paralyze our expression of compassion... Connecting even the deepest of our motivations with a tangible expression brings integrity to what we feel A simple generous act frequently cuts right to the heart of the matter.

I am often amazed at the generousity of children around me, of their ability to give in a way that is truly free and based on meeting an immediate need. Before reading this quote I hadn't considered why it seemed harder for adults to trust that first instinct to give and yet it makes perfect sense. In talking to my kids about issues they distill it down to the core very quickly. Someone needs something we have to give and so we give it. Someone needs help and so we help. Something needs to be done and so we do it. (why doesn't that apply to cleaning their rooms?). They are clear that we do these things simply because we can. My own thinking gets murky with thoughts of intention, logistics, conservation of our own resources, and my good intentions are often hobbled by it. I learn so much from my kids.

Small change

2010-01-17T00:03:00.002-05:00

Yay for generous neighbours. The kids spent an hour today canvassing the neighbourhood with the goal of raising $50. They came home with more than $135 in coins to donate to the Red Cross Haitian Relief Fund. Only about one half of the neighbours we visited were home and so they have plans to head out again tomorrow with their buckets, their rehearsed spiel and the small painted hearts with hand lettered thank yous that they gave after every donation. There was more than one occasion when I felt the lump rise in my throat as our neighbours greeted the kids warmly and thanked them genuinely for their efforts to make a difference. The largest donation they got was $5 or so, and so we were pleasantly surprised at the finally tally. The donation will be matched by Kevin's employer and then matched again by the Canadian government program, meaning that in an hour they generated more than $500 worth of donations for Haiti. For them, it's a great lesson about the power of small change, a little legwork, and the value of a connected community. And it's a good reminder for me about how easy and empowering it is to support their natural inclination towards generosity and compassion.

We cannot do great things on this Earth, only small things with great love.
~ Mother Teresa

ETA - the penny drive has continued and they have surpassed the $250 mark. Even more importantly their friends are all getting in on the act and these kids are doing such amazing, inspiring work.

A little

2010-01-16T01:52:00.001-05:00

The greatest mistake is to do nothing because you can only do a little.
~ Sydney Smith

Everything feels little in the face of the incredible tragedy in Haiti. I've chosen not to watch the news and only read a few headlines on the computer. I can't comprehend the magnitude of this tragedy and I don't know that looking at images is going to make it any more real than it already feels.

I've talked to the kids about the earthquake and how devastated it has left Port au Prince but we have decided at this point that that will be enough information for them. We want to leave them feeling empowered to help rather than overwhelmed.

And so we have been talking with friends and around the table about what we might be able to do to help. Donating cash seems to be the most appropriate response at the moment and we've already sent some to the Red Cross. But we also want to find a way to do something tangible as a family so we are floating up ideas:
~ a penny drive?
~ asking for donation for carrying bags at the market or shoveling snow?
~ some kind of craft sale?
~ organizing a valentine's family dance?

We've been in touch with the warehouse of a local charity where we have volunteered to see if there is anything we can do, perhaps packing boxes again like we did before Christmas.

I find that the hardest thing in supporting my kids through this kind of heartbreaking tragedy is finding the balance between giving them enough information so that they can reach out and protecting them and their sense of safety, and optimism, so that they don't become overwhelmed.

In the end I think that for them, like for me, it is important to know that even though our gestures feel small when compared to the scope of the situation, we aren't powerless and we can make a difference.

What comes from the heart, goes to the heart.
~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Resources for teaching about Haiti

2010-01-16T01:34:00.001-05:00

Links
5 Ways to Teach About Haiti Right Now - New York Times Learning Blog
UNICEF lesson plan about Haiti (pre earthquake)
Colouring Pages
Lesson Plan Haitian Art (uses Running The Road To ABC by Denize Lauture as a starting point)
Recipes
Festivals and Activities to celebrate Haiti

Book Lists

Non Fiction:
~ Haiti by Trudy Hanmer,
~ Haiti by Bob Temple,
~ Haiti in pictures by Margaret Goldstein,
~ A Haitian Family (Journey Between Two Worlds) by Keith Elliot Greenberg (for older children)
~ Cultures of the World- Haiti

Fiction and Folktales:
~ The Magic Orange Tree by Diane Wolkstein. (collection of Haitian folktales)
~ Please, Malese! : a trickster tale from Haiti by Amy MacDonald,
~ Anacaona, golden flower by Edwidge Danticat,
~ Tales of wisdom & wonder by Hugh Lupton, (contains the Haitian folktale Monkey and Papa God )
~ Selavi, That is Life: A Haitian Story of Hope by Youme Landowne (teacher's guide)
~ Tap-Tap by Karen Lynn Williams
~ Running The Road To ABC by Denize Lauture

DVDs and Music:
~ Haiti a painted history [Videotape]
~ Putumayo presents Carnival

Martin Luther King Jr Day

2010-01-13T23:58:00.001-05:00

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Day is a wonderful time to talk to your children about racial issues - those in the past and those we still collectively face. It's also a great springboard for discussion peaceful methods of protest, and the power of dreams.

Resources
~ In remembrance of Martin [videorecording DVD]
Books:
~ Paths to peace : people who changed the world by Jane Breskin Zalben
~ Ten amazing people : and how they changed the world by Maura D Shaw
~ Martin's big words : the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Doreen Rappaport
~ Coretta Scott: Poetry by Ntozake Shange
~ As Good As Anybody by Richard Michelson
~ Our children can soar: a celebration of Rosa, Barack, and the pioneers of change by Michelle Cook
~ A Sweet Smell of Roses by Angela Johnson

Links:
holiday zone pages - excellent resource for activities and discussion starters for children
I have a Dream speech - transcript
link to video of I Have a Dream speech
Seattle Times Education Pages - excellent resource for older children, includes timeline, background, articles and study guide
long list of links for teacher's lesson plans
more lesson plans
New York Times resource page

Civil Rights and Race

2010-01-13T23:25:00.000-05:00

The Story of Martin Luther King Jr is a powerful one but even moreso if it can be put in context of what was happening in the struggle for equality and civil rights. Here are some resources to help put that quest in context.

Books for parents
40 ways to raise a nonracist child by Barbara Mathias,
Race: a history beyond black and white by Marc Aronson,

Books for younger children
This is the dream by Diane ZuHone Shore,
Rosa by Nikki Giovanni,
The Boycott Bluyes: How Rosa Parks Inspired a Nation by Andrea Davis Pinkey
The bus ride that changed history : the story of Rosa Parks by Pamela Duncan Edwards,
Freedom on the menu: the Greensboro sit-ins by Carole Boston Weatherford,
Through my Eyes by Ruby Bridges

For teens and adults
The Rosa Parks Story (dvd Xenon Pictures, [2002] )
A dream of freedom : the civil rights movement from 1954 to 1968 by Diane McWhorter,
Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Right's Movement (dvd)
The untold story of Emmett Louis Till (dvd)
4 little girls (dvd)
We shall overcome by Herb Boyd,

Pledging Non-Violence

2010-01-13T23:20:00.002-05:00

One of the ways to honour Martin Luther King Day is by talking to your children about non-violent or peaceful means of meeting our needs. One excellent tool is the Family Pledge of Non-Violence which families can read and sign together.

Celebrating MLK Day respectfully

2010-01-13T01:01:00.002-05:00

Some links from Teaching Tolerance:

A Dream We Can All Share
Like King's dream, the events and people celebrated during February's Black History Month belong to all of us — they are lessons we all can learn from and take pride in.
For all children to appreciate this shared history, parents and caregivers must regularly reinforce those lessons at home.
No matter your color or background, here are suggestions to help you and your family embrace the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and Black History Month — beyond any single day or single month.

Do's and Don'ts of Celebrating MLK Day
The holiday must be substantive as well as symbolic. It must be more than a day of celebration . . . Let this holiday be a day of reflection, a day of teaching nonviolent philosophy and strategy, a day of getting involved in nonviolent action for social and economic progress."
~ Coretta Scott King

Can you imagine

2010-01-11T23:56:00.000-05:00

If all your energy needs were supplied by pedal power?

One Small Change

2010-01-09T22:10:00.000-05:00

Hip Mountain Mama is hosting One Small Change to encourage all of us to make the commitment to changing one thing in our lives which will allow us to live more lightly on the earth. Each month from now until Earth Day, participants will choose an action and follow it through. By blogging or emailing what their family is doing, they will be eligible for wonderful prizes.

Raising Global Citizens Part II- What does that mean?

2010-01-08T22:54:00.001-05:00

In their dwelling, they love the earth;
In their heart, they love what is deep;
In personal relationships, they love kindness;
In their words, they love truth.
In the world, they love peace.
In personal affairs, they love what is right.
In action, they love choosing the right time.
~ Lao Tzu

For me, raising global citizens means helping my children understand their place on earth and the role they can play. As Rex Murphy said: If you were born in the West, you've won the only lottery that really counts from the very first moment you take air. We are blessed with so very many gifts and I think it is important for my children to understand those gifts come with the responsibility to use them wisely and widely to benefit those who aren't so lucky.

In order to use our gifts to the best of our ability, we need first to be aware. Aware of the challenges we all face socially, environmentally, culturally, religiously, racially, and economically. We need to recognize and nurture compassion and empathy. We need to be environmentally responsible in how we use the earth's resources and how we allow our economic decisions to impact the earth. We need to be tolerant and open-minded about the views, experiences, and needs of others. And we need to be able to see the connections between all these things. Decisions which are good for the environment are often also respectful of different cultures and economic realities. Social issues are can rarely be teased apart from issues relating to race, religion or cultural perspectives.

But being aware is only part of the journey. We need also to be able to use that awareness to motivate our actions and interactions with others. I think all kids have an innate tendency towards altruism. As parents, I think we can nurture and support our children's natural abilities to connect action with intention by helping them feel confident in their ability to make a difference, even if that means they can do nothing more than offer kindness.

Good intentions are at least, the seed of good actions; and every one ought to sow them, and leave it to the soil and the seasons whether he or any other gather the fruit.
~ William Temple

Worldview Radio Show

2010-01-07T03:18:00.000-05:00

Chicago Public Radio has an interesting show called Worldview which has some fabulous programming.
Jerome McDonnell hosts Chicago Public Radio’s long-running global affairs program Worldview. From Nobel Peace Prize winners to Nicaraguan sweatshop workers, Worldview highlights a range of voices that go beyond the headlines.

Got a bit of wanderlust?

2010-01-05T03:05:00.000-05:00

Then reading about this family's 3+ year long world tour may not help. What a great opportunity for their daughter.

Or you could follow this family as they bike from Alaska to Argentina with their young sons.

The Cross Cultural Classroom

2010-01-04T02:01:00.000-05:00

Article from the New York Times that reinforces the need for religious literacy for adults and children.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-02T02:18:00.000-05:00

Felice Nuovo Anno!
Prosit Neujahr!
Nakutakaia Heri Ya Mwaka Mpya!

However you say it, New Years is a great time to celebrate.

Happy New Year Everywhere by Arlene Erlbach is a wonderful book that teaches kids about New Years celebrations around the world. The section on each country or region includes some background about the tradition, when the New Year is celebrated, how to pronounce the greetings, and what the cultural traditions are for that particular celebration. Each section also includes an activity for kids to do. There are crafts, recipes, songs and games.

While you are organizing your calendar you can use the Kindersley's book Celebrations to plan some celebrations of your own for the coming year. The authors of Children Just Like Me have featured 22 different cultural celebrations and traditions. Children from around the world are pictured celebrating everything from N'cwala (Zambia's Harvest Festival) to Egemenlik Bayrami (Turkey's Independence Holiday) in traditional clothing with notes about the food, music, dances and activities for each celebration.

Other great sources of information are the Multicultural Diversity Calendar and the Earth Calendar.

Sal -e- no mobarak!

Raising Global Citizens

2010-01-02T00:22:00.000-05:00

How can we raise children to be socially aware, religiously tolerant, environmentally responsible, culturally sensitive, with a deep sense of themselves and a meaningful connection to their communities?

How do we balance honouring our children's innate curousity and ability to connect with the need to protect them from becoming overwhelmed by all the work there is to do in this world?

Where do we start when we aren't really clear on all the complexities of issues ourselves?

How can we foster that generousity, volunteerism and altruism in our children when our days are full now?

How do we talk to kids about sensitive issues without scaring or overwhelming them?

All I know is that we can't do it alone. My goal is to use this blog as a place to explore these sorts of issues. Through interviews, resource reviews, suggestions for activities and discussions about what is involved in educating and parenting our children for a different world, together we can explore the many facets of raising global citizens.

This Path

2010-01-01T01:12:00.006-05:00

Peace, in the sense of the absence of war, is of little value to someone who is dying of hunger or cold. It will not remove the pain of torture inflicted on a prisoner of conscience. It does not comfort those who have lost their loved ones in floods caused by senseless deforestation in a neighboring country. Peace can only last where human rights are respected, where the people are fed, and where individuals and nations are free.
~ Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war.
~ Maria Montessori

If we wish to create a lasting peace we must begin with the children.
~ Mahatma Gandhi

Twenty years ago, when I was finishing university as a Business Major in the age of Gordon Gecko, I aspired to a corner office, a BMW and annual vacation on the Riviera.

Ten years later I aspired to be a good mother while juggling a part time job - the last vestiges of my business career.

Now I have given up high heels in favour of hiking boots, a BMW in favour of a minivan with more orange peels and wayward socks hidden in the seats than I can imagine, the nanny in favour of homeschooling and my goal of being financially rich in favour of the goal of making a difference with, for and because of my kids. I aspire now to becoming a Raging Granny someday.

This path I am on has taken me places I never would have imagined. The ground is shifting under my feet and I can see that my dreams for my children are causing me to change my direction again. I am learning that the things I want for them can not be achieved in isolation. If I want peace for them, clean water, social justice, tolerance and acceptance, I can not work towards those things without doing it on behalf of all the children. I am learning I can not teach them about peaceful solutions, critical thinking or the need for action without demanding the same of myself.

I am not an expert on any of this - on parenting or social justice or environmentalism or peace activism. My knowledge of history and geography are far less developed than that of my 11 year old son. I took marketing in university while my more enlightened friends studied women's issues and community development. I attended my first rally of any kind when I was well into my 30s. Every day I learn more from my children about generosity, compassion, kindness and the need for action than I can ever hope to teach them. This blog is my way of collecting and sharing resources that are changing the ground under my feet and helping me prepare my kids for a world I can't even imagine. I'd love it if you would join me on the journey.

Do not hang back from involvement in addressing the problems of the world, waiting to become an expert. You are expert enough. Take your part in the great dramas and the great struggles now still in their opening acts in this world. It is the part where you storm on stage with a confused but mischievous look and the audience cheers you madly. Don't wait to know the part too well, or the moment will pass without you.
- Doris "Granny D" Haddock, 93

In our daughters and our sons

2009-12-02T00:46:00.000-05:00

And now the music’s playing and the writing’s on the wall
And all the dreams you painted can be seen by one and all
And now you got them thinking and the future’s just begun
For you sowed the seeds of justice
In your daughters and your sons.

In your daughters and your sons,
in your daughters and your sons,
You sewed the seeds of freedom
in your daughters and your sons.

~ Tommy Sands