How can we get young people politically engaged?

Ummmm…..We could make politics more fun?……..

 All in favor raise your hand

Once I became an adult, everything got really serious…………….Suddenly, the world became this scary place where there was so much to worry about……Getting a good job, being late, missing my bus, paying the bills, what I should wear, how I look, who to vote for, the economy, getting a mortgage, crime, global warming, War, processed food, the future and Brexit!…………….

Being a child was considerably less stressful. Children seem to worry far less than adults. When children are young they tend to marvel at the world, they see it as a  place of wonder, a place to be explored, energetically. Their creativity knows no limit. They dance, sing, act out different roles and invent new scenarios. They want to interacted with everything and anything in their environment and they do all this freely and unselfconsciously!  They do not have the mental boundaries that older children gradually acquire reinforced by set curriculum and rigid time tables ( Fawcett, 2009)

Joining children in their world

many adults feel like an outsider to the world of young people. sometime between adolescence or early adulthood we pretty much stop playing and we may even forget how.

My son said to me the other day, adults and and children see the world from different points of views, you are much taller than me.

learning to let go a little, allow some unplanned chaos into our lives. spontaneously as children, live in the moment unplan

Politics – politics is the activity and planning concerned with achieving power and control in a country or organization.

loosen up , uptight , we need to learn from them, we worry much more about danger then we need to

‘When you are dealing with a child, keep all your wits about you, and sit on the floor.’ – Austin O’Malley 1915

young people seem to be less and less interested in converntional politics.  voting

wide range of activities seen as more effective than putting a cross in the ballot box.

ned chaos,

‘for many children much of their internal life remains unprocessed and in symbolic form for much longer than expected. some children reach adolescence, still with neither the languages to name their experience nor the conceptual and affective frame work through which to process them’ ( lefevre 2008)

hearing childrens explanations and interpretaitions bring greater understanding.

We have to try and listen paitently to their way of telling things, even if it is excruciatingly dull to us, if we want them to get round to telling us the good stuff. understandably, they want to know that we are really listening and arent going to interupt or scold them, before they share anything importantr with us.

adults fixed mindset, where as children are not excessively attached to their own ideas.

encourage flexibility of mind

Establish a Connection

alienation, they retreat into towers of isolation, with draw and lash out. lonely afraid overwhelmed. we may not even know they feel disconnected, since children rarely come up to us and say, ” i feel isolated.”

focus on activities that are fun and emotionally warm

Allow children to express themselves more freely in their own ways and in their own terms.

Keep an open mind, constantly experimenting, rather than sticking to a  fixed approach

Encourage their confidence

“I will never give up” ( chiara age 4)

powerlessness to powerful

self confidence

powerlessness creeps in as a result of the setbacks children experience as they strive to feel confident and self-assured. They cant do things as well as their peers, so they feel frustrated. They are criticized and punished and given grades, so they feel judged. They are flooded with messages about how they are supposed to behave and they feel inadequate.

Adults are famous for taking all the fun out of learning,

Art forms of all kinds offer  bridges to open up communication, some children may not want to speak about their feelings but will speak through open ended art activities.

even worse is our tendency to criticize children. criticism is a nasty habit, we feel we are being helpful, but it is really no help at all. all it does is install a voice inside their head that will ruthlessly and relentlessly  criticize them for the rest of their lives.

it is only by experimenting with new ideas that you find out what works out best- let go of fixed mindset

It is important to get young people involved in their communities. 

‘I have joined a group at school called the good Samaritans. We go out into the community helping and stuff like that. We miss Math on Monday afternoons.’  Adrian Mole aged 13 3/4 

 

Suspend Reality: reverse the roles

in play the ordinary rules of reality are suspended, and that is what gives it such power.

young people feel powerless,

role reversal is especially helpful for restoring childrens sense of confidence and for over coming fears and inhibitions

allow they to blossom and develop

from tradgedy to comedy

just say yes! dont worry so much

children have very good judgement when they are allowed to use it, but often they havent much of a chance, since we are always telling them what they shoyld and shouldnt do

Learning Together- building a community

we as adults need to turn detective, and sniff out interests in young people

we have to find ways for young people to tell their own stories, paint their own pictures, construct their own worlds, act out their own scenario, and keep their own dreams alive.

an attitude of respect toward young people and an attitude of wonder toward their world.

 

But we sometimes fail to give enough attention to their interests and ideas.

It could be argued that today’s young people, are better equipped than any previous generation to face the challenges that surround us all. the sad thing is that many feel alienated, and excluded from the current system. They believe that their cultures and practices are of secondary importance and have no value in greater society.

 

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-42747342

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But it is not just what we learn in the class room that is important. There is a whole world around us waiting to be discovered. By taking first steps outside our comfort zone,  we begin to realise that there is a learning opportunity attached to almost everything we do (Bond & miller (1996)