OS with kids

[Glory Ressler]

Hi!
    Funda Oral wrote:
>I am asking just for curiosity. Has anyone ever tried OS with kids or with
under 14 years old students?<

    I have facilitated two OST meetings with kids in that age group.
    One was for a town council who wanted feedback from the kids on what
their needs were, in terms of community development/planning. The Council
also identified, from the group who attended, youth champions who now sit on
a special Youth Committee. The top priority issues are now in development
and youth on the committee are publicly taking leadership on youth issues in
the community.
    The other was an OST meeting where 'Issues and opportunities for
volunteering' was explored with an invited group in the age range you
mentioned. There is a fairly new requirement to complete forty hours of
volunteer service in order to graduate from high school in this province -
and the group was brought together in our region to help jump start that
process - both in terms of ideas for volunteering and in preparing the
students for this new educational requirement.
    In both cases, there were also older students in attendance. A few
notes:
~ they took to the process like fish to water
~ the energy was enormous and I found 'holding the space' to be exhausting,
as a result
~ the 14 and under crowd tended to form their own discussions - they seemed
intimidated by the older teenagers
~ lots of prep work with the sponsors was required in order to support them
in letting the kids find 'their own way'
~ part of the givens negotiated had to do with the legal and safety
requirements for working with minors (ex. Law of Two Feet but can't leave
the building without checking with an adult first).

Hope this helps!
Glory Ressler

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