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What’s drawing young people into chat rooms, drugs, and gangs?
Why is bullying behavior on the rise in schools?
According to family counselor and
parent education specialist, Kim John Payne, today’s children
are missing the humanizing rites of passage that traditional
cultures used to guide the maturation of the young. Across many
cultures, elders devised ceremonies, skill-building activities
and tests, and they mentored young people to take up the roles
necessary for the survival of their tribes. In modern cultures
“official” rites of passage have fallen away, leaving it to
young people to figure out who they are and where they fit in
the world. Sometimes they develop their own rituals, which are
not necessarily healthy, but destructive to themselves and to
others. Payne’s proposal for filling the vacuum between
traditional rites and the “you’re-on-your-own” approach is a
process that he calls “social inclusion”.
Mr. Payne’s lecture, “Social
Inclusion: the New Rites of Passage” will address the roles that
parents, schools and communities can play in helping children to
navigate the path from childhood to adulthood by recreating the
kinds of mentoring relationships once found in traditional
societies. It is Mr. Payne’s belief that environments that
support inclusion, that set standards of courtesy, and that
value human relationships go a long way toward nipping childhood
anti-social behaviors in the bud. Come hear Mr. Payne’s
real-world observations and practical advice on Tuesday, October
7, 2008, at 7:30 p.m. The lecture is open to the public for a
nominal charge of $5, payable at the door.
For questions or more information,
please contact The Waldorf School of Philadelphia at (215)
248-1662, or via e-mail to
philawaldorf@verizon.net. For
information about Kim John Payne, follow this link to his
website,
www.thechildtoday.com. |
