I've been reading about ideas regarding the future of children's education over at Peter Gray's blog "Freedom to Learn." One of the commenters there has a blog of his own called Playborhood. On one of his posts, he talks about his plans to design an "outdoor family room" in his front yard where the neighborhood parents and kids can stop by anytime to just hang out.
This sounds like a very interesting and a wonderful concept in theory. But will it work? What do you do with that one annoying neighbor who's loud, boisterous, opinionated, eats all the food, drinks all the beers, and does not have a clue? What do you do with the cliques that will inevitably form? What do you do with that one kid who none of the kids want to hang out with? What do you do with the few women whose main goal in life is to gossip and spread rumors?
Not to put a damper on the plans before they even get off the ground, but I foresee so many of the same problems that seem to surface in any organization, such as church.
There will be the ones who are "in" and who are "out."
Is it just me? Am I just being negative?
By the way, Playborhood is a wonderful blog. He has some great thoughts...
Thanks for your post, Linda. (I'm the guy who wrote this article on Playborhood.)
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your concerns, but well, I *really* hope we get to deal with them. You see, the outlook for neighborhood play for kids is so dismal in America these days. How many times lately have you seen kids playing outside as you drive down a residential street?We used to see kids (I was one of them!) at least 50% of the time. Now, it has to be less than 5%, maybe 1%.
So, we have some thoughts on dealing with obnoxious neighbors and cliques, but for now, I say, let's just get someone, anyone, out there every night, then I'll start thinking about problems.
BTW, plans are moving along well and they're looking *very* exciting!
Mike,
ReplyDeleteWow... How did you find me?
I do sincerely wish you all the best with your plans and truly admire your optimism and energy. :-)