OS with kids - please advice

Tue May 6 04:45:19 PDT 2003

Gerard,

I have had a similar experience.  Here is what I recommend.

For many of the younger children, the open space sessions will not be very
interesting - a long time, talking about matters that are abstract to them.

I would approach people in the community who might be interested in
convening sessions that are hands-on, with kids in mind:  art, movement,
music, group games, etc.  Since these sessions go up on the agenda wall with
the others, then it is not a separate "child care" track, but part of the
whole.  And adults may choose to attend also of course (imagine creating a
dance or painting along your theme of "what do we want to have in the
future, and how do we create it?"

Whether the law of two feet can fully apply to children depends on the norms
of supervision at your school.  If the law does apply to all, then a six
year old may leave the art session to wander the halls to find her mother's
session, and children may be butterflies here and there if they so choose.
If this is not comfortable to the sponsors then there could be adult or
youth escorts to assist children who are ready to use their "two feet".  A
third choice is that children are only checked in and out of the "childrens"
sessions by a parent, but then they are no longer equal participants in the
OST, and the "childrens" sessions are not part of the whole, either.

When we held a similar event at a school, many, but not all, of the young
children chose to attended the art sessions, and many of the older children
participated in other groups.  At closing circle most of the kids chose to
sit on the floor in the middle.  After our once-around with the talking
stick, the children shared their artwork individually and sang two songs,
and that was our closing.  It was marvelous.

Chris

> From: Gerard Muller <gm at openspace.dk>
> Reply-To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
> Date: Tue, 6 May 2003 10:14:35 +0200
> To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> Subject: [OSLIST] OS with kids - please advice
>
> Dear All,
>
> I have been asked to facilitate an Open Space for a school. The theme
> will be: "What school do we want to have in the future, and how do we
> create it ?"
>
> When discussing who should participate, the conclusion at this moment is
> the Board, the schools staff, parents, children and a couple of others
> who have
> a say about or expertise in this.
>
> My question is about the children. This school has children from 6-16
> years old. The preparation group I am working with feels the older
> classes could participate. I expect also the younger ones would just do
> fine - except that probably they will not be given a choice to
> participate or not - parents who want to join the meeting will just take
> them along so as to not have to pay for someone to look after them.
>
> Anyone else has any experience with this ?
>
> Greetings from Denmark,
>
>
>
>
> Gerard Muller
> Open Space Institute Denmark
>
> *
> *
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> view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
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>From  Tue May  6 14:59:53 2003
Message-Id: <TUE.6.MAY.2003.145953.0200.>
Date: Tue, 6 May 2003 14:59:53 +0200
Reply-To: thomas at openspaceconsulting.com
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: Thomas Herrmann <thomas at openspaceconsulting.com>
Subject: SV: OS with kids - please advice
In-Reply-To: <BADD188E.5863%chris at springbranch.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

Dear friends.
Lots of wise thoughts have already been shared. I just wanted to say I
facilitated an OST earlier this year, focusing on how to prevent
harassements at schools in a community. 43 kids and 27 adults participated
from about 8 different schools. The kids who are already engaged in those
issues at their school, aged from 11-12 years to 16 and they participated
just like everyone. They did really fine, brought up interesting issues and
joined the session groups most of the time.

I noticed that some of the adults/teachers sometimes disturbed the kids a
bit when wanting to help them. They did just fine but the adults didn´t
trust that they would.

At the end of the day some of the smaller kids were quite tired, one had to
go home after lunch - stomachache from drinking too many sodas and eating
biscuits. They were astonished: Can we have as many sodas as we want - well,
if it´s Open Space it is, I thought (passion bounded by responsibility).
Maybe next time I will not have almost unlimited resources in that area...

I believe giving alternative activities as options being a good thing but in
my case it wasn´t needed because they were all interested in the theme.
Regards
Thomas

> -----Ursprungligt meddelande-----
> Från: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU]För chris weaver
> Skickat: den 6 maj 2003 13:45
> Till: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> Ämne: Re: OS with kids - please advice
>
>
> Gerard,
>
> I have had a similar experience.  Here is what I recommend.
>
> For many of the younger children, the open space sessions
> will not be very
> interesting - a long time, talking about matters that are
> abstract to them.
>
> I would approach people in the community who might be interested in
> convening sessions that are hands-on, with kids in mind:
> art, movement,
> music, group games, etc.  Since these sessions go up on the
> agenda wall with
> the others, then it is not a separate "child care" track, but
> part of the
> whole.  And adults may choose to attend also of course
> (imagine creating a
> dance or painting along your theme of "what do we want to have in the
> future, and how do we create it?"
>
> Whether the law of two feet can fully apply to children
> depends on the norms
> of supervision at your school.  If the law does apply to all,
> then a six
> year old may leave the art session to wander the halls to
> find her mother's
> session, and children may be butterflies here and there if
> they so choose.
> If this is not comfortable to the sponsors then there could
> be adult or
> youth escorts to assist children who are ready to use their
> "two feet".  A
> third choice is that children are only checked in and out of
> the "childrens"
> sessions by a parent, but then they are no longer equal
> participants in the
> OST, and the "childrens" sessions are not part of the whole, either.
>
> When we held a similar event at a school, many, but not all,
> of the young
> children chose to attended the art sessions, and many of the
> older children
> participated in other groups.  At closing circle most of the
> kids chose to
> sit on the floor in the middle.  After our once-around with
> the talking
> stick, the children shared their artwork individually and
> sang two songs,
> and that was our closing.  It was marvelous.
>
> Chris
>
> > From: Gerard Muller <gm at openspace.dk>
> > Reply-To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
> > Date: Tue, 6 May 2003 10:14:35 +0200
> > To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> > Subject: [OSLIST] OS with kids - please advice
> >
> > Dear All,
> >
> > I have been asked to facilitate an Open Space for a school.
> The theme
> > will be: "What school do we want to have in the future, and
> how do we
> > create it ?"
> >
> > When discussing who should participate, the conclusion at
> this moment is
> > the Board, the schools staff, parents, children and a
> couple of others
> > who have
> > a say about or expertise in this.
> >
> > My question is about the children. This school has children
> from 6-16
> > years old. The preparation group I am working with feels the older
> > classes could participate. I expect also the younger ones
> would just do
> > fine - except that probably they will not be given a choice to
> > participate or not - parents who want to join the meeting
> will just take
> > them along so as to not have to pay for someone to look after them.
> >
> > Anyone else has any experience with this ?
> >
> > Greetings from Denmark,
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Gerard Muller
> > Open Space Institute Denmark
> >
> > *
> > *
> > ==========================================================
> > OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> > ------------------------------
> > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
> > view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
> > Visit:
> >
> > http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
>
> *
> *
> ==========================================================
> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> ------------------------------
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
> view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
> Visit:
>
> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
>

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