Inclusion of people under 18, aka "children" and "youth"

Why?

As in our society work and spaces gets more and more divided, also young people get more and more marginalised and been looked at in institutions. Public space, where it is not already sold or been built on, is serving mainly the needs of consuming society, not the needs from young people to learn in their neighbouthood environment from an age mixed group, playing, exploring or transforming it, yet to say: Being an important member who participates.

Young people are objects which need to be pedagogically observed and trained, and therefore to be brought mainly by their parents from one place to the next, from kindergarden to courses from playground to school.

The ways between the spots are dangerours, mainly because of cars, secondly because of anonymity, bad thought architecture and people with problems.

Therefore, slowly young people disappear from our "world" as we see it everyday. Many people do not even have daily contact to under 18s. The public space and city planning processes are left to our economy and people who are able to serve this economy, mainly people between 20 and 45 years.

And as it often, the less contact you have to a certain group of society, the more prejudices come up around them. Children are naughty, tyrannies and never want to sleep. We all know this.

Therefore also in so called alternative circles people under 18 are mostly not warmly welcome. For concentrated working you really have to be under adults, everybody knows this as well. Little efforts are being made to include younger people in our daily struggles.

And so also projects and the work which is produced in the alternative scene is not so appealing to young people. More appealing seems consumerist society, where everything is well thought and designed for their well-studied "needs".

As we are aiming for a degrowth society, we have urgently to change something.

We have to shift the focus more on the needs of the younger generation and welcome them inside our circles, more, we have to appreciate their inputs, since their way of thinking is much less schooled, trained and blurred than our senses and ways of thinking are already.

If we want to build up a degrowth society we have not just to listen to their ideas, but also remember, that these young people are the ones who are going to deal with our left overs from growth societies in a couple of years and we depend on the decision they will do when they have our age!

So they have to be mentally strong, with the capazity to for a brought way of thinking and also practically skilled people and we should start now to include them in our way of thinking and doing, otherwise the will go the seemingly more appealing way which growth society offers them now, but at the same time not giving them big skills to transit to a more able, more just, more pluralistic, more democratic, more ecological and what ever degrowth society.

So lets start with the inclusion in our heads. Children are not a burden to our courses, but a part of society, which needs respect, love and participation.

For more practical aspects we started to put up a list, where you can orientate to have a proper child inclusion at your courses. Of course this is open to discuss and changes.

Invitation:

Young people in general go more for pictures than for text. Make an own invitation to them, with some degrowth appealing style. Never forget, there are thousands of well-paid designers at the next corner, trying to get their attention for the newest gadget or entertainment park to compete with. Getting an own invitation with some nice picture or even a postcard, they might be able to send to some friends from the course, is much cooler, than just being brought by the parents to a random meeting where grown ups sit for 5 days in circles and discuss "important" things, meaningless to them and where they are just been seen as additional stress.

Make clear, that the GROWL course is interesting, also for young people, and that they are more than welcome.

Write a special invitation to parents you know to be interested in degrowth. Many parents have been politically active and left it aside, due to dificulties of including the children in political struggles. But living degrowth means also including families, where values are much more transported than in institutitions or the best political education project. ( if we like it or not...)

Make especially visible, that children are welcome on the invitation and the registration formular. If there is nothing written, people assume, the event is without children. Many parents don't even ask for childcare, because they assume, there is none.

More kids on spot means normally less work for the adults.

Food: 

Make sure, that there is some food, which is not spicy. Best is kind of pure food. Pure noodles, pure carrots and so on, like a buffet, where they can pick on their own.

Leave some snacks and fruit always on the spot, so that children can serve themselves during day. Same goes for drinks. If dinner is very late, make sure, there is a possibility for them eating a bit earlier, especially younger children have problems to wait very long.

Cooking is a very inclusive work. Also small children can already participate. Check with the parents, if they are ok, that the child uses a knife. For children this is not a problem, yet for some parents. They can also pick and wash veggies and fruits, make bread and love to make cake. Ask them what the want to cook, they might have creative ideas!

Introduce them to not so well known ways of cooking like rocket stove, solar cooker etc., as well as picking herbs or mushrooms with them, if you are familiar with. They will love it!

Party:

Young people like to party like everybody! Party doesn't necessarily mean drunk people on drugs, smoking in dark corners listening to very loud german house music and smashing bottles. ( even if this might be fun:P)

Make sure, that the parties on your courses have a more convivial style. Circle dances, jam sessions, singing together, playing theatre,  painting, group games, bon fire, everything is very inclusive also for young people. If the parties start earlier than midnight the younger ones might be still awake and able to participate.

If the party is not at seminar place make sure, there is a safe place to sleep for them at the party, so that their parents might stay a bit longer.

Program:

It depends very much on the age. It is good to have an extra space and an extra person who is up to do a certain kind of program with the kids, while the grown ups are discussing "important" things, meaningless...and so on.

Activities could be:

Indoor:

- upcycling

- basteln with trash or nature materials

- singing, music together

- helping to cook

- painting

- setting up decoration for the space

- developing a theatre piece for evening surprise for the adults

- books, especially those which open debates related to topics the grown ups are discussing

- helping with daily tasks on the seminar spot

- helping each other, especially the older looking for the smaller ones

Outdoor:

- group games

- juggling

- ball games

- picking herbs, fruits, veggies

- exploring the spot

- building cardboard houses

There are tons of good books on both, inside and outside activities. Most important is to state, that it is not a child care on side, but directly contributing to the course itself. Children want to contribute, even the smallest. Give them "real" tasks, not just some unnessary stuff.

Don't overload the children with prefabricated toys, yet it is nice to have some stuff there. Books, some little toys, balls, juggling stuff, tissues for dressing and building "caves" and material for basteln. Think about toys which have a more colaborate character, like train lines you can stick together.

If the kids are older, you can also think about joining debates at a certain point to get the ideas of the younger ones in it. You can plan the course in a more convivial and practical way, so that sitting in a circle and working very quietly just makes a part of it and the rest is more open to participate also for the younger ones. Painting together, theatre, practical work, modelling, excursions, are very inclusive formats for all ages and enabling also the younger ones to pick up new skills. Ask children, if they want to contribute to the program in anyway. Open Space is therefore a good method.

Make sure, that the children are part of the morning circle and can express their thoughts and needs. You can also make an extra Child Plenary at the end of the afternoon. Especially younger ones can speak more easily about the day, than the day before. Let them rather draw than talk too much. If they can just concentrate for 5 minutes, leave it there. More important is that there is a space where they can express, than a very elaborate thing.

Make the effort and try at least to "translate" some of the theoretic debates from the course to the children, with pictures, easy language, playing. This is also a good exercise for talking to non academic people from "normal public"

Having an introduction on "What is degrowth" in the content modul, specially designed for kids, can be a good exercise for everybody, since many work with younger people or people not so familiar with degrowth.

Who cares?

This again depends very much on the age. Make sure, that you know at least 1 week beforehand all ages and special things about the children. If they are older, it might be unnessary to have a special care person. Being left alone and develop games with other children in an age mixed group is one of the biggest cultural losses we have at these days in our culture. Children are always cared and watched.

So if atmosphere is good, make sure, that the get some rules about the spot, where to go and where not, when to come back ( make sure it is very few  and understandable rules, than normally they will follow it), and leave them on their own.

If there is somebody on the spot, cooking or doing other practical work, ask if this person is up to invite the kids for help.

If they are smaller, you might need a care taking person or 2 ( more convivial)

Don't leave it to the seminar group or the parents alone, since they normally don't want to miss the course.

You can ask there for additional support, but have at least one reliable person, agreeing the main ideas of this text, to take care and look for a welcoming environment.

In general most parts of the courses should be designed to be together and not apart. So than everybody interacts, despite from age, and everybody cares for everybody, despite from age.

Language might be problematic, but more for the adult than the child. Children until 10-12 years normally pick up quickly the language and don't bother about language issues.

Rooms

Make sure, there is a room or outside spot, where the kids can be very loud and naughty, while the adults ( or other children!) want to concentrate. The more space they have to move, the less naughty they get. Nature always helps with conflicts.

Make sure rooms and facilities are barrierfree, and children can move autonomously. Asking all day for help is enerving for both young and older people. Make sure, the toilet is acessible and check if there are pots.

Explain how compost toilet works if they don't know it. Normally they love it. Maybe you can build a children compost toilet during the course.

Having a calm sleeping place especially for parents with smaller children might be beneficial for all.Make sure, there is a place to rest during the day near the seminar, for smaller children.

Hygiene

Since children come from different places and there are 30-60 people on each course, be very careful with hygiene, especially in places where is little water. Make sure, they wash the hands regulary, especially before eating. Talk with them about hygiene matters and why it is senseful to be more careful than in the allday life at home. Make sure, water to wash hands is acessible to them at any time.

Look beforehand numbers from pediatrics in the region, just for the case.

Have an emergency set at the seminar.