Intergenerational Circle Time
Mon, Oct 12th 2009
Early Years practitioners are lovely! The best among them laugh easily, are full of commonsense, grounded and playful. Very young children, like the very old, need such patience. They must not be hurried. For us hares it’s horribly difficult to stop and listen. To let go of all our issues and properly engage and encounter the individual trying to express complex feelings in their own very slow unique way is a rare act. Listening is a dying art. We all have ‘friends’ who look like they’re listening but they’re just waiting to jump in and say the bit they wanted to say in the first place!
The young and the old need to laugh. The only good thing about getting old is your longterm memory comes back. It’s so important to make sure we get them all together as the older generation need to teach the young ones all their rhymes, songs and games. Can you really remember properly how Pat a Cake goes? Some older people can and they can remember many more!
Some of my accredited teachers have been very inspired by intergenerational circle time and are doing some wonderful work. Leeds LA especially is really supportive. Penny Vine, one of my original consultants, has written a lovely book on how to run safe and fun circle times for the old and young. Sean Duggan, a very creative learning mentor, got so fired up about intergenerational work that he managed to involve 8 secondary schools. Things happen if people are passionate – and playful!!
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