Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Re: child care at meetings/intergenerational understanding

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Tuesday, February 18, 2003, at 02:35  AM, Elizabeth Stevenson wrote:

> We decided that it was silly to confine this to my son, and have made 
> it a
> regular process for all the children who live here. The parents get up 
> at a
> regular meeting and tell he community about their child: how to talk to
> them, what to do if there's a problem, what they like, who their 
> friends
> are, etc. We have found this to be a tremendous help and have better
> relationships all the way around. I can't tell you enough about how it 
> has
> improved things, which were already pretty damn good to begin with.
I have appreciated this greatly in our community. We have children who 
have come from a wide variety of backgrounds from the "designer child" 
(only child, two fully involved parents, private school plus a 
multitude of enrichment classes) to children adopted when they were 
older and had been through the foster care system. We have learning 
disabilities and anti-social behaviors.

Parents have been very open about what their kids do and how they 
handle them -- usually by email when an issue arises. We haven't had 
formal meetings although some issues have been discussed in the 
meetings on the kids room. This greatly reduces tension and the 
children have flowered in the community. It is so nice to see big 
smiles and social graces instead of scowls, surly body language, and 
angry taunts.

Sharon
-----
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org

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