Cohousing-L Mailing List: child/adult mentor program?

[Joey Kimdon (jkimdon]

Hi all,

Several of us in our community would like to establish a child/adult mentor
program, and we were wondering if any other communities would be willing to
share their experiences.

One of our main goals is to deepen the connections between children and
adults who are not their parents. We're hoping these special connections
will give the kids many people they're comfortable talking to as they are
going through life's challenges, as well as enrich both parties' lives as
they share their special talents, interests, and personalities. We also see
it as a way to keep the kids connected to and interested in the community
as they grow older.

We already have many rich child/adult interactions, informal activities,
special friendships, and a kids club where adults can share activities with
the kids. However, we're looking to have a more formal program in order to
include more of the less-outgoing people, to encourage more one-on-one
time, to help people find ways to fit this type of connection into their
schedules, and to give an almost family/grandparent-type of commitment that
the kids (and adults) can count on over many many years.

Our current thoughts are to have some rotating one-on-one mentorships
(maybe 6 months long?) starting as soon as the kids are interested and
continuing until adulthood, fostering many different relationships. Then in
addition, as part of a coming-of-age ritual (around 12 yrs old), having the
child and an adult find each other for an enduring (non-rotating), deeper
mentorship. The shorter mentorships could help the children and adults
figure out who they want for their long mentor and could continue even
during the longer mentorship.

Does anyone have any experiences they'd like to share that could help us as
we are developing this idea? Or can you point me to some archived posts? I
did a quick search in the archives, but didn't find the right search terms
to come up with anything.

Thanks,
Joey
(from CoHo Ecovillage in Corvallis, OR)