The other day I was in our youth pastor's office talking to another mom, and we discovered that both our sons are interested in photography. We said, in chorus, "We should find them a class!" and then we laughed, because seems to be what we always do...
My knee-jerk response to any talent or ability or interest my kids show has always been: find a team, find a class, find a teacher! Only as it turns out, both kids have had trouble with short-term classes, or overly-large after school clubs with too few (but very well-meaning) parent volunteers running them, and (most definitely), Little League, from which we bailed after two short but painful seasons.
I have a feeling that a photography class won't necessarily be the best way for my kid to learn whatever it is he wants to learn about cameras. He just thinks taking his own pictures might be kind of cool, and knows you can have fun with digital photos on your computer... but he doesn't want to be signed up for anything, thank you very much.
Yet there's a point to giving an interested but unskilled youngster the opportunity to glean knowledge from someone with experience and passion about the same subject. That's why in many cultures, the elders traditionally pass their knowledge and wisdom along to the younger generation. So I was wondering how we could make that idea work for our kids, say, in our church community...
A woman I know is a fabulous maker of beaded jewelry. She's really passionate about it and very good. She has been sharing her skill and knowledge (and supplies!) with Number One Son, and last year at they got together with another young woman who wanted to leran. A "beading party" ensued and the results were some pretty cool jewelry. What a great model this could be for other wisdom sharing within our community of generous spirits!
What we need is a way to match our elders with our youngsters... Any thoughts?
Thursday, September 11, 2008
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2 comments:
Kathy, I can't tell you how much I love this idea. And it goes right along with what the youth expressed at the last retreat-- a desire to better know the adults around them, and to be known by them. Surely we could ask the congregation to write down their interests and talents, and then allow the youth to puruse the lists, checking for common interests? I would be thrilled to have a young person hang out and make homemade bread with me, or to get together and write poetry or stories. There are so many talents and interests out there, and so many ways to connect with eachother, if we can just make it happen. Maybe some sort of on-line (but secure) church database? Like facebook for churches? Faithbook?
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