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

[Joey Kimdon (jkimdon]

Many kids are interested in the vague idea. It remains to be seen how
reality will pan out though. :-)



On Sun, Nov 17, 2013 at 2:43 PM, Diana Carroll <dianaecarroll [at] 
gmail.com>wrote:

> Have the kids expressed interest in this?
>
>
> On Sat, Nov 16, 2013 at 6:59 PM, Joey Kimdon <jkimdon [at] gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> 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)
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>>
>