Youth Leaders

[Joanna Fletcher]

Hi All,

Thanks for this discussion, as it is helping me to clarify my thinking about the type of Board I aspire to for our organization, the Gifted Childrens Association of BC.

I don't see how an organization that is supposed to support kids can reasonably exclude them from visioning and decision making. So I think we need to include them, and hopefully our discussion will rise to the level of their participation.

I remember feeling very disenfranchised as a child. While working with a board is probably not for all children (as it is not for all adults!) there are some, especially in the Gifted world, who would relish the opportunity. They ARE children, it is not a chosen job. Perhaps they want to play with being on a board instead of Lego or frogs. In any case they are learning, learning, learning.

Children are passionate and driven humans, with the same need as adults to be heard and respected and feel like powerful actors in their own lives. I am deeply disturbed by what we do to most of them in the name of education, and I work towards changing that. I admit that any time I hear "let kids be kids" I get all bent out of shape. I don't understand what this means! What are we protecting them from? Why do they need protecting from it? Is it just an excuse to dismiss them? These are some of the questions I wrestle with, because the sentiment was used to dismiss me as a younger person.

Thanks again for this discussion.

Cheers
Joanna Fletcher

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