...okay, so the challenge has had mixed results and I'm not really sure if the message I intended to get across to my 4-year-old audience really got through, but if I've learned one thing from kids it's that sometimes the lesson that they learn ends up being better than the one you thought you taught.
A recent text message from his mommy: "Shawn has been telling everyone about how we slept outside of home. And about the frog we caught. And peeing in the bush cause we couldn't (weren't allowed to) go in the house... and brushing his teeth outside the tent... "
I know, I know.. it wasn't supposed to be a camping trip, it was supposed to be a learning experience- but sometimes the best class doesn't take place in a room. Sometimes the best tool a teacher has is not chalk, rather engagement. I've seen it in over and over again during Kicks Projects... on futbol pitches in South America, on converted cow pastures in East Africa- it's what Kicks is all about: using soccer to teach life lessons. I've just learned tonight, via text from a diligent mommy, that somehow this whole Kicks Challenge did have an impact on one little boy- maybe it wasn't exactly the lesson that we were aiming for, but the door is open- maybe this first Kicks Challenge was a success after all. Maybe the challenge wasn't really the lesson- but the reading of the lesson. After all, sometimes just getting their attention is a great success for a teacher.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Kicks Challenge #1 -How it went
Well, we took on the first Kicks Challenge with gusto, but it turned out to go a bit differently than we’d envisioned. This is a learning process and I’m not sure if the whole idea of a “Kicks Challenge” is misguided, or if the expectation that people will actually try them along with us is unreasonable, but it is worth trying in order to have a little fun and incorporate a good lesson for a child with an outside-of-the-box leaning experience.
I wasn’t sure if Shawn, my girlfriend’s 4-year-old son, was old enough to understand the concept of ‘being without home’ and frankly wasn’t sure if it was even an appropriate subject to approach with such a young person. This challenge was really designed more for kids 10 years old and up who are able to grasp the concept and become motivated to get involved in a community project.
So, we approached the subject delicately and didn’t make the lesson too intense. The point of this was not to be scary or uncomfortable or even mimicking a homeless way of life- it was really just an excuse to engage kids in an environment free of distraction. A way to separate your family from the television and the ipod, from work and videogames and computer/technology to spend quality time as a family talking about all that you have to be thankful for and come up with ideas for getting involved in helping your community.
I brought along activities and books and photos and facts, but as the night drew on that turned out not to be the focus. Instead we talked about what makes a house a home (the house or the people inside the house) and what sorts of dangers could cause someone to become homeless (storms, playing with matches). It was a good learning experience for everyone involved and certainly made us all appreciate that we had a home to retreat to the next night.
A few of you emailed me and expressed some questions as to the point of all this. “How is sleeping outside for one night supposed to help anyone?” someone wrote, “it’s not even like you’re sleeping on the streets, certainly not anything like what a homeless person actually experiences.”
This is true, on both accounts. I understand your questions of legitimacy, and truly appreciate the feedback. In order to understand the experiment, we need to first step outside of it and understand its purpose. The point is not to make your child feel what it is like to be homeless, that’s impossible to do and would be counter productive. Nor is the point to scare him or make him suffer in any way, on the contrary this was a fun and exciting event that he will no doubt remember with positive recollection when he grows up. The purpose was to create an opportunity to talk with loved ones without the distraction of the home.
It created the setting for a distraction free environment to talk about something that isn’t taught in schools: community involvement. You can go to school to be a scientist or a mathematician, or an engineer or a doctor or a lawyer; hell you can even go to school to become a basketball player- but nowhere in the curriculum is there reference to community involvement and youth leadership.
What we are trying to do with these Kicks Challenges is create a lesson with a fun ‘field trip’, or ‘challenge’ or ‘dare’ or whatever, to get kids excited about getting involved in the community and become leaders of change. It’s the same thing we do on Kicks Projects in other countries except instead of issuing a “Challenge”, we use a soccer ball.
I hope that you all found this Kicks Challenge worthwhile, even if participation was vicarious. Any and all feedback is welcome; please help us to make these challenges as effective as possible.
Thanks for participating and be sure to check in on July 1st for next month’s challenge!
I wasn’t sure if Shawn, my girlfriend’s 4-year-old son, was old enough to understand the concept of ‘being without home’ and frankly wasn’t sure if it was even an appropriate subject to approach with such a young person. This challenge was really designed more for kids 10 years old and up who are able to grasp the concept and become motivated to get involved in a community project.
So, we approached the subject delicately and didn’t make the lesson too intense. The point of this was not to be scary or uncomfortable or even mimicking a homeless way of life- it was really just an excuse to engage kids in an environment free of distraction. A way to separate your family from the television and the ipod, from work and videogames and computer/technology to spend quality time as a family talking about all that you have to be thankful for and come up with ideas for getting involved in helping your community.
I brought along activities and books and photos and facts, but as the night drew on that turned out not to be the focus. Instead we talked about what makes a house a home (the house or the people inside the house) and what sorts of dangers could cause someone to become homeless (storms, playing with matches). It was a good learning experience for everyone involved and certainly made us all appreciate that we had a home to retreat to the next night.
A few of you emailed me and expressed some questions as to the point of all this. “How is sleeping outside for one night supposed to help anyone?” someone wrote, “it’s not even like you’re sleeping on the streets, certainly not anything like what a homeless person actually experiences.”
This is true, on both accounts. I understand your questions of legitimacy, and truly appreciate the feedback. In order to understand the experiment, we need to first step outside of it and understand its purpose. The point is not to make your child feel what it is like to be homeless, that’s impossible to do and would be counter productive. Nor is the point to scare him or make him suffer in any way, on the contrary this was a fun and exciting event that he will no doubt remember with positive recollection when he grows up. The purpose was to create an opportunity to talk with loved ones without the distraction of the home.
It created the setting for a distraction free environment to talk about something that isn’t taught in schools: community involvement. You can go to school to be a scientist or a mathematician, or an engineer or a doctor or a lawyer; hell you can even go to school to become a basketball player- but nowhere in the curriculum is there reference to community involvement and youth leadership.
What we are trying to do with these Kicks Challenges is create a lesson with a fun ‘field trip’, or ‘challenge’ or ‘dare’ or whatever, to get kids excited about getting involved in the community and become leaders of change. It’s the same thing we do on Kicks Projects in other countries except instead of issuing a “Challenge”, we use a soccer ball.
I hope that you all found this Kicks Challenge worthwhile, even if participation was vicarious. Any and all feedback is welcome; please help us to make these challenges as effective as possible.
Thanks for participating and be sure to check in on July 1st for next month’s challenge!
Friday, June 11, 2010
Suggestions for Kicks Challenge: Homelessness
Hello Kicks Community,
Just a reminder to everyone to make an attempt to take on the “Kicks Challenge #1: Homelessness”. This weekend will be beautiful here in Southeast PA, so it’s a great opportunity to take on this challenge on Friday or Saturday night.
I will be posting media from my experience this weekend and encourage you to do the same. It should be a fun way to create an important lesson for young ones. Go on, give it a shot- what do you have to lose?
If you can’t find a way to take on this first Kicks Challenge, I encourage you to still share this experience vicariously with your children by following our blog. Use this opportunity to talk about homelessness and it’s effects on the populations of the world and our very own country. Cite the examples of Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans, of how people who had their every possession swept away in a storm and have rebuilt in the face of adversity… while many remain homeless to this day, 5 years on. Or how there are 100 million homeless people in the world, nearly 1 million homeless in America (a quarter of which reside in NYC alone) or that there are 3,000 homeless in Philadelphia (streets & shelters). For more information: http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/ , http://www.endhomelessness.org/
You can also use the challenge to start a conversation with younger children about the dangers of playing with matches, for example. “If you play with matches or leave the stove on or jam things into electrical sockets, a fire could start and WE could lose our home… or worse. Be creative- the lesson is what you make of it.
The point of this Kicks Challenge is not to make anyone feel guilty or inadequate; it is to inform our youth of the inequities of the world and encourage them to get involved in their community. It is not meant to be dangerous or shameful or negative, rather the point is to inform through example - to encourage through empathy.
Take this opportunity to start a dialogue with your children/family/loved ones about issues important to you. The lessons and conversation can go anywhere you want; these Kicks Challenges mean to serve as merely the catalyst for starting such a dialogue and getting involved in the community.
Kicks will be doing a clothing drive in Philadelphia this summer, more details on that later. If you’re interested in volunteering or getting involved in this project please contact us at TheKicksProject@gmail.com.
Invariably, we at Kicks hope to create a sense of empowerment whenever we go into schools or interact with kids by teaching them how to become community leaders and bring attention to strife. Children often tell me these things sound “unfair” and they want to know how they can make a difference. We hope to encourage this sense of involvement and contribution at The Kicks Project.
While sleeping outside one night wont solve homelessness or directly help anyone who is homeless per say, hopefully it will impact children to the point of action, both now and in their lives moving forward. This is our mission with Kicks Challenge #1: Homelessness.
Thank you for reading. Feedback and criticism is welcome and encouraged.
Just a reminder to everyone to make an attempt to take on the “Kicks Challenge #1: Homelessness”. This weekend will be beautiful here in Southeast PA, so it’s a great opportunity to take on this challenge on Friday or Saturday night.
I will be posting media from my experience this weekend and encourage you to do the same. It should be a fun way to create an important lesson for young ones. Go on, give it a shot- what do you have to lose?
If you can’t find a way to take on this first Kicks Challenge, I encourage you to still share this experience vicariously with your children by following our blog. Use this opportunity to talk about homelessness and it’s effects on the populations of the world and our very own country. Cite the examples of Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans, of how people who had their every possession swept away in a storm and have rebuilt in the face of adversity… while many remain homeless to this day, 5 years on. Or how there are 100 million homeless people in the world, nearly 1 million homeless in America (a quarter of which reside in NYC alone) or that there are 3,000 homeless in Philadelphia (streets & shelters). For more information: http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/ , http://www.endhomelessness.org/
You can also use the challenge to start a conversation with younger children about the dangers of playing with matches, for example. “If you play with matches or leave the stove on or jam things into electrical sockets, a fire could start and WE could lose our home… or worse. Be creative- the lesson is what you make of it.
The point of this Kicks Challenge is not to make anyone feel guilty or inadequate; it is to inform our youth of the inequities of the world and encourage them to get involved in their community. It is not meant to be dangerous or shameful or negative, rather the point is to inform through example - to encourage through empathy.
Take this opportunity to start a dialogue with your children/family/loved ones about issues important to you. The lessons and conversation can go anywhere you want; these Kicks Challenges mean to serve as merely the catalyst for starting such a dialogue and getting involved in the community.
Kicks will be doing a clothing drive in Philadelphia this summer, more details on that later. If you’re interested in volunteering or getting involved in this project please contact us at TheKicksProject@gmail.com.
Invariably, we at Kicks hope to create a sense of empowerment whenever we go into schools or interact with kids by teaching them how to become community leaders and bring attention to strife. Children often tell me these things sound “unfair” and they want to know how they can make a difference. We hope to encourage this sense of involvement and contribution at The Kicks Project.
While sleeping outside one night wont solve homelessness or directly help anyone who is homeless per say, hopefully it will impact children to the point of action, both now and in their lives moving forward. This is our mission with Kicks Challenge #1: Homelessness.
Thank you for reading. Feedback and criticism is welcome and encouraged.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Kicks Challenge #1 - Homelessness
Happy June, Kicks Community! Every month we will be issuing a “Kicks Challenge” to all of you out there to test your resolve by putting yourself in the shoes of another for just one day a month. It is a campaign we are calling “Understanding Through Empathy” and it is going to be a lot of fun! We recommend that you undertake this first challenge with your family, kids, girl/boyfriend…whomever, as it is sure to be a great bonding experience and life lesson, especially for children.
C’mon, take the plunge- its only one day and if you challenge yourself you may find that it is not only a great learning experience for you and your loved ones, but also a lot of fun as well.
So, for our First Kicks Challenge, we dare the Kicks Community to spend one full night sleeping outside of your house. I’m not talking about a road trip to a state park over the weekend. No, I mean one night in your backyard in a sleeping bag or a tent with all of your clothes and belongings for the next day. No shower. No computer. No nothing except what you bring with you outdoors. Rules are simple: once you go outside and begin the challenge you may not go back in your home for 24 hours
*Bonus points for doing it on a work night, extra bonus for wearing a suit the next day, which is what I will be doing.
Parents, I encourage you to bring your children with you, provided the environment is safe. Make it an event! It will be a great opportunity for quality family time and will surly become a lesson in empathy that you won’t soon forget.
If you don’t live in a safe area, discuss the challenge with a friend who has a safe yard and make it a group activity. It will be a great opportunity to discuss with your children the realities facing many people who are homeless here in this country and around the world. Highlight recent events to establish a tangible frame of reference for your children such as the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile and imagine yourselves in their shoes, unable to retreat indoors after the Kicks Challenge is over. Use facts to drive the point home such as: 2 million people are homeless in Haiti after the earthquake or that roughly 1 out of 70 people on the planet have no roof over their heads.
Don’t forget to debrief your family members and/or friends on their experience the next day. What did you learn from this experience? How did you feel when you woke up in the morning? Were you able to get a good night’s sleep? Why or why not? How could this experience relate to your lives? Why should we care? How does this problem affect us as a family/country/humanity? What could be done to help alleviate homelessness in your community?
I will post a debriefing form for all Kicks Challenges, so check back soon for this listing titled: Challenge #1- Homelessness. Be sure to make a journal entry and encourage your kids to do the same, it will enrich the lesson we’re driving home (homelessness is a major problem in the world) and cement the experience as an unforgettable one.
This could be a great opportunity to connect to your friends, family and neighbors for a life lesson that you and your kids will never forget. So, please participate in this Kicks Challenge #1 - Homelessness and be sure to post your ideas, thoughts, experiences, suggestions to this blog or contact me directly at: TheKicksProject@gmail.com.
Thanks for reading – I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Michael E. Gage
C’mon, take the plunge- its only one day and if you challenge yourself you may find that it is not only a great learning experience for you and your loved ones, but also a lot of fun as well.
So, for our First Kicks Challenge, we dare the Kicks Community to spend one full night sleeping outside of your house. I’m not talking about a road trip to a state park over the weekend. No, I mean one night in your backyard in a sleeping bag or a tent with all of your clothes and belongings for the next day. No shower. No computer. No nothing except what you bring with you outdoors. Rules are simple: once you go outside and begin the challenge you may not go back in your home for 24 hours
*Bonus points for doing it on a work night, extra bonus for wearing a suit the next day, which is what I will be doing.
Parents, I encourage you to bring your children with you, provided the environment is safe. Make it an event! It will be a great opportunity for quality family time and will surly become a lesson in empathy that you won’t soon forget.
If you don’t live in a safe area, discuss the challenge with a friend who has a safe yard and make it a group activity. It will be a great opportunity to discuss with your children the realities facing many people who are homeless here in this country and around the world. Highlight recent events to establish a tangible frame of reference for your children such as the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile and imagine yourselves in their shoes, unable to retreat indoors after the Kicks Challenge is over. Use facts to drive the point home such as: 2 million people are homeless in Haiti after the earthquake or that roughly 1 out of 70 people on the planet have no roof over their heads.
Don’t forget to debrief your family members and/or friends on their experience the next day. What did you learn from this experience? How did you feel when you woke up in the morning? Were you able to get a good night’s sleep? Why or why not? How could this experience relate to your lives? Why should we care? How does this problem affect us as a family/country/humanity? What could be done to help alleviate homelessness in your community?
I will post a debriefing form for all Kicks Challenges, so check back soon for this listing titled: Challenge #1- Homelessness. Be sure to make a journal entry and encourage your kids to do the same, it will enrich the lesson we’re driving home (homelessness is a major problem in the world) and cement the experience as an unforgettable one.
This could be a great opportunity to connect to your friends, family and neighbors for a life lesson that you and your kids will never forget. So, please participate in this Kicks Challenge #1 - Homelessness and be sure to post your ideas, thoughts, experiences, suggestions to this blog or contact me directly at: TheKicksProject@gmail.com.
Thanks for reading – I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Michael E. Gage
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