We are ALL Advocates of Children

 

 

 Parents, Family Members, Educators, Administrators, Policy Makers, even the members of our immediate and broad Community, are all part of systems which greatly influence a child's development.  

 

     Each of these “systems” differ in many ways, yet each play an important role in building strong, consistent, and supportive relationships as we collectively work toward guiding the delicate process of helping children become fully realized humans.  Whatever our respective role, we are ALL advocates of children. 

 

     The work of advocacy requires that we engage with a broad base of views and opinions, as there are MANY wonderful approaches to helping children grow, learn, and establish meaningful relationships.  This site is designed to offer a diverse view of issues impacting child development.  It is my hope, that these views will help shape a better understanding of the culture in which we are living, learning and growing, and act as a catalyst to further a better understanding of the issues that face children today.

 

     As an advocate, we have an obligation to fulfill the rights of children. Though highly capable and competent people, these innate learners of life are also considered a vulnerable population, facing rapidly shifting cultural perspectives on education, technology, nature, play, and relationships, without having a voice by virtue of their age.  And while we are making MANY advances in these areas, some advances have also come at a grave cost to children’s physical and mental well-being.

 

     As we seek to learn more about the issues children face, it is impossible to ignore our greatest challenge.  Restoring play as a vital and necessary function to brain and human development.  FREELY CHOSEN PLAY is the key to our literal survival as healthily functioning humans.

 

     The already rapid decline in children’s play, along with the associated physical, mental and social manifestations of play deprivation, will continue to rise exponentially as the next generation of parents, educators, policy makers and community members seek to thrive without the necessary play experiences generations before them were afforded. 

 

     It is not an exaggeration to state that our very humanity is at risk when we not only deprive our children of these vital play elements, but when we also fail to advocate through action for its existence in our respective spaces.  

 

     This is YOUR resource guide to advocacy and ACTIVISM.  The views represented here stand alone.  They do not reflect the views of any one organization.  However, this resource guide does elevate the work of many educators, researchers and organizations who tirelessly fulfill the obligation held by all who advocate for children...

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• by bearing witness to the ongoing challenges children face within the overly standardized culture of early education

• by providing a broad, diverse and sometimes controversial view of the systems and trends which influence the the well being of our future generation.  . 

 

     That’s what advocates do; we objectively examine and analyze issues and systems informed by unique experiences, concerns, values and desired outcomes and seek to actively protect the rights of children in our own social, professional, economic, and/or political contexts. 

 

     In addition to knowledge being the root of advocacy, this site proudly shares with you the work of many esteemed organizations and think tanks who have turned knowledge into action!  Powerful tools for advocacy and activism are embedded in these pages.  Use them and give a nod to their work as you do.  We stand in gratitude for their efforts.

 

     All activism is born of necessity.  The necessity for us to actively preserve a child's right to fully and freely experience the MOST IMPORTANT spectrum of their entire human development, is more necessary now than ever before!  

 

With a warm and grateful embrace for whatever you seek to do for children, 

~ A Fellow Advocate 

7/2019