|
|
|
| STOP PRESS: A worthy cause... Peter French will be trekking the Great Wall of China in September to raise funds for Variety, the children’s charity. He is hoping to raise $5000 for a very special young boy who needs a wheelchair. Peter is paying all travel and personal expenses himself, and all funds will go to Variety. All donations are tax deductable. It’s six days of climbing some of the steepest steps imaginable, but I’m sure the thought of helping this young boy will see him through. It’s east to contribute. Simply click www.everydayhero.com.au/peter_ffrench and go to ‘donate now’. Alternatively you could send a cheque made out to Variety Queensland through Peter at 4 Wilbur St and he will return a tax receipt. Intergenerational issues
Let’s bring young and old together! In a number of towns across the state, older and younger people are beginning to plan to work and play together. Two years ago senior students in Queensland high schools told Older People Speak Out they would like a lot more to do with older people – namely in the generations over 60. We were also told by older people that one of the causes of their fear of crime was youths gathering together in the streets. When we got both young and old people together, they agreed that they would plan ways they could teach each other and develop projects of mutual benefit. The outcome of this has been Generations A Go-Go, a kit that not only shows what some of the young and old are doing together in some communities but also explains how they go about it, lists lots of activities that can be done together, and some of the successful social outcomes of pilot projects. One of the earliest and most successful intergenerational projects was set up by Pensioners and Superannuants President Yvonne Zardani. For years now she has been running an intergenerational Mini Olympics between a retirement village and the local school, to the great enjoyment of everyone. The Seniors’ Week Schools Competition was also her initiative. OPSO has been holding intergenerational Parliamentary Debates in Parliament House for the last two years. Now, the OPSO Generations A Go-Go kit will help to spread intergenerational projects across the state. There are many advantages in linking the older and younger generations together. The first is the skills we can share. In one town, for example, the young started an SMS group with a large group of older people. Once the activity got under way, they decided to have the older people teach them ballroom dancing, while a group of older men suggested they work with the students to make a video production. Another project has been to involve Senior students with Meals on Wheels, sharing the delivery of meals with older members. A similar project is a plan to link younger people in a Junior Neighbourhood Watch. The intergenerational project concept has also been very
effective in helping to reduce the number of young offenders. The townsfolk had an initial meeting of interested residents and decided to invite community members and business owners who had previously been targeted by youths to hold a BBQ. They found that, once personal relationships were struck between youths and townspeople, they stopped offending against those people. At the same time, that town has arranged various projects to give literacy and numeracy courses to the youths in the area who needed these skills in order to have job opportunities. The same town runs a well-attended disco two nights a week. Young and old people are involved in its operation and planning. The shed concept in which youth is taught by older tradesmen how to pull down and re-build a car has been started in a couple of towns and been met with great enthusiasm – a great way to learn new skills. In another town, a motorcycle was donated for a similar project to rebuild and raffle for funds to continue the rebuilding project. The southern Gold Coast is taking up the intergenerational approach in a major way, and is drawing the older generations together to plan projects with youth. These projects will give young people not only activities – both intergenerational and youth-specific – but places to hold them. – Val French
Introducing our intergenerational kit As Generations A Go-Go indicates, this kit is meant to make you stop and think, and hopefully act. We are not marketing anything: we are simply saying that no generation has ever been any better or any worse than the other. Each generation has been made up of individuals, the good, the not so good, the clever and the not so clever. The façade of the Victorian era was often only that; the naughty ’90s were only sometimes that . . . and often the gay ’20s were not so gay for many. In the Great Depression there was mateship and sometimes an evening of fun even in the susso camps. And in World War II those of us who were young found joy where we could while we still had the chance, for all of us knew life was often to be only too brief. Perhaps the difference between then and now lies in the marginalising of the generations. Long evenings with the extended family of three generations playing games together or singing round the piano, of the older generation handing down stories and skills and grandparent wisdom as well as understanding, are a thing of the past. While some grandparents pick up the role of being parents to their own grandchildren as partnerships break up, or drugs take over, many others are divorced from their grandchildren by distance or because families are ‘just too busy’. When we speak to people in towns across the state the old and the young suggest we need to find ways to re-build integrated communities. The young say that both generations have a lot to learn from each other in skills and finding solutions to problems. The older generation has recalled the days when the young had places to hang out: milk bars, picture shows and indoor skating rinks, and those wonderful dance halls of a Saturday night . . . and in some places even mid-week. The younger generation tell us: “We can’t start this off. It is up to you to get things going, then we can all work together to make it happen.” This kit has two purposes – the first is to suggest ways of getting the generations together for fun, to share skills and planning, and to simply enjoy each other. The second is to find ways of linking with the young, who for any number of reasons are in trouble. Some will need the opportunity to learn to read, to obtain the skills that will give them an aim in life. Some will need projects to give them some feeling of self-worth and responsibility, as well as fun. Above all, they need to share in their ownership. Click here to download the Intergenerational kit in PDF format (1.1Mb).
When youths are out of control: Where do we begin? We can no longer deny that there are communities in Queensland where this is so. In the last five years, as OPSO has travelled Queensland, we have repeatedly reported the problems and in some cases we have helped to change things. But these problems are nationwide, not statewide. We need to look at some answers. They are to be found first and foremost at school level, secondly at parent level, and thirdly with the community itself – its politicians, its policies and its policing. Firstly, the schools All of us are aware that in some suburbs and towns, youths are roaming the streets and shopping centres in school hours. It is the responsibility of the Education Department to deal with them, to ensure they are kept where their parents sent them – at school. Secondly, the parents While it is the school’s responsibility to know where their pupils are and to ensure they stay at school, it is the parents’ responsibility to know where they are out of school hours. What about fining parents who have provided alcohol to underage drinkers or who know the child is drinking and do nothing? Perhaps they should be fined for the damage caused to property by their under 16s! Thirdly, the community Once upon a time most of them were earning their own living and responsible for themselves by 14 years of age. We took responsibility away from them in this ‘give me’ society. It’s time we gave it back, in centres that help to make them responsible for an active and fun social life – not just hanging out in the shopping centres and streets. Perhaps these shopping centres could find room for a Youth Community Centre. – Val French AM |
|
