Victoria's blog
suggestions for building an intergenerational movement
at Saturday's Revolutionary Parenting caucus, we brainstormed ways that people in our communities and movements can support the needs of their families. Here's what we came up with:
*rotate the childcare role at meetings and events. This enables the parent or caretaker to fully participate while ensuring that no one person gets burned out.
*barter and trade for childcare. Parents and caretakers often have useful skills that they're willing to share.
*form relationships with the kids in your community/movement/social justice project
*going to do something a kid might be interested in? Invite him/her along!
*at the start of any event, make an announcement that children (and the noise they make) are welcome. Many times we parents feel that we have to leave if our children make as much noise as the ringing of a cell phone.
*start (or participate in) discussions about the needs and contributions of families in radical communities. Don't always leave it to parents to have to bring these issues up.
*start a childcare collective!
*One participant informed us that, despite all of her fundraising efforts, her friend, who is a mother of two, had been unable to afford to travel to the conference. Similarly, the mother who had originally proposed the parenting caucus, had been unable to come for the same reason. And so we added this suggestion:
Think about how the conference/event is helping
parents/kids/families get to them. Remember
that if we're flying, bussing, taking the
train, etc., we're often paying for more than
one seat (in addition to taking time off work,
having to pay for multiple meals at each
mealtime, etc). How are the organizers working
