As you may recall, I have a long history working (and
PLAYING) with CHILDREN (*on several continents, from a variety of
socio-economic backgrounds, I might add.) I have been a preschool teacher, a
primary and secondary school teacher, university professor, manager of an
orphan village, ESL Instructor, private tutor, managed several different youth
groups, and then some! My policy (in and
out of the classroom) has always been to SPEAK to CHILDREN as EQUALS.
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| Yes, this Class photo is ridiculous! (South Africa) |
This means I speak to
CHILDREN the same way I speak to ADULTS. This means I call CHILDREN out on their
BULLSHIT…especially if they are 3 years old! I don’t care if you are my Grandmother,
Nelson Mandela, a 5 year old, the Dalia Lama, or a dog…I speak to everyONE as an EQUAL, in my AUTHENTIC VOICE. I feel that anything less than speaking MY
TRUTH (*which may very well be different from yours and lucky for me, I am OK with that!) in my AUTHENTIC VOICE lacks INTEGRITY and smells of EGO. Therefore,
I find it very disconcerting that I noticed during my stay in Ojai, when I speak my truth
to CHILDREN, it sometimes upsets their so-called Guardians! (We punish our CHILDREN when they do not
speak the truth …but are WE, as ADULTS, speaking AUTHENTICALLY to our kids?!)
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| Until we had a facility for all our ORPHANS, in rural South Africa, we housed them at the local hospital. |
For example, I had NO IDEA that the youths I was sharing a Rosh Hashanah meal with were enrolled in some kind of
“confidential” drug addiction treatment program (*how would I KNOW? Especially,
if it is “confidential”?!) Therefore,
when they started asking me a million questions about Burning Man and drugs
over my kosher meal, well, I answered honestly
that I believed SACRED PLANT MEDICINES (like Ayahuasca, Iboga, Mushrooms,
and such) can be very therapeutic and transformational tools for healing
addictions (*and there happens to be A LOT of scientific evidence to support
this –but don’t listen to me, do your OWN HOMEWORK!)
I told these very curious youths they are currently using
hallucinogenic plants (SACRED PLANT MEDICINES) to treat prisoners in Brazil
with astonishingly positive results and in addition to the studies that are
confirming this all over the world, I am regularly meeting people who have
independently overcome heroine addictions and such with cannabis oil treatment
and other holistic healing methods.
Shortly later, I was called aside from a “Guardian” and asked very
politely NOT TO DISCUSS DRUGS with these CHILDREN who are currently “in
treatment”. Things that make me go
hmmmm…how do you expect to address drug addictions without discussing drugs and
all the OPTIONS?!!!
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| While working for Costa Rica Outward Bound, I got my MAUI (SCUBA) certification with the GIRL SCOUTS of AMERICA |
I share this little story to OPEN UP the DISCUSSION on HOW
we can better COMMUNICATE with OUR CHILDREN/the YOUTH -- as EQUALS -- with
INTEGRITY. I welcome ALL SOULutions! Thank you!
This is Kelly N Patterson, aka "The Goofy Guru" reporting from Ojai, California
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| One of my besties from my work with Bien du Mujer, en La Carpio (the slums of) Costa Rica |
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