A little bit more respect for youth, please
[ read the whole interview here, in Dutch only sorry ]
It headlined with:
"A little bit more respect for youth, please!"
It was about me personally, a little bit of history, my goals in life and death.
I received many really nice comments and contact requests about one particular topic. The 'kids talent'-foundation I've been working on quietly.
Although we're not ready yet to show the project to the world, I can give you a general outline of what it is about and trying to become.
The Peter's Pan Foundation has three principles:
1. Acknowledge the importance of Play
When young everybody loves to dance, draw, throw/kick a ball and sing. Nobody judges you on rhythm, arts skills, ball control or singing out of key, but somewhere along the way this changes. 'We have to grow up, get serious'?!.
Playing and self expression is crucial for happiness, we should encourage this.
2. Discover Talents
The younger the brain, the more receptive it is. So helping kids find their talents is crucial for them to start developing the skill set they are best outfitted for. Don't rely on the school system. Think about the best age to learn a new language. Take responsibility as a parent.
3. Embrace Technology
Because of the ways our means of communications and knowledge distribution is radically changing, because of the Internet and generally the Information Age, the way we educate and inspire our kids should also change radically. We have to rethink the system. A tailored approach is within reach, that starts with observing our kids closely.
Around these principles we want to create an infrastructure (funds, network, reach) for good ideas.
Soon I'll unveil more, but for now that's it.
Of course you can contact me if you want to be involved, invest time or money or if you want to stay updated on our progress.
P.S.
For your inspiration please look at the following TED talk by Gever Tulley about his book "50 dangerous things you should let your kids do", which, amongst other issues, taps into the receptiveness part of this blog.
