Teenagers. (3/19-3/20/2017)

[W I S N E R !]

Ramblings from an overnight with six teenagers (including my son).

A beer, an ibuprofen, and a nap can work wonders for headaches after the last has been picked up  :)

Sweeping the Garden: Teenagers

 

[Diane Pinkers]

Good read, Craig.  Thank goodness someone has the patience to take time with kids.  I’ve always maintained that from fourteen years old, they should be nailed inside a box, fed through a hole, and not let out until they seen reason at around 20.  Then again, I didn’t really like teenagers when I was one, and was working on being curmudgeonly when I was that age already.

[Ken Thompson]

Beautiful. You’re a good man.

Lol, Diane.

[W I S N E R !]

Thanks folks.

“I’ve always maintained that from fourteen years old, they should be nailed inside a box, fed through a hole, and not let out until they seen reason at around 20.”

Oh, that’s pretty much what high school is Diane, except a few unsuspecting and well-meaning adults like myself were promised summer vacations and thereby tricked into getting nailed inside the box with them for the other 10 months.  Someone’s got to keep it from going full-on Lord of the Flies. :)

[Ryan Tucker]

Enjoyed the read!!!

[William Chilton]

“Two areas of education that I firmly believe are absolutely necessary, especially for youth:  the arts and the outdoors.  We need to be teaching children how to be whole, how to cultivate their own creativity and appreciate the wonder of the world around them.”

Well said.

[Kattt]

Wonderful  report Craig!

I enjoy kids very much, including teenagers. Nice to see others do too :)

[Kevin Babione]

Really nice – thanks for posting.

[Matthew / BPL]

That was a fun read. How’d they do on the hike? How far?

I am curious what kind of work you do with teenagers. Are you a teacher? What do you teach?

My 14 year old son is my main hiking and backpacking partner. It’s just become something that we do together. The dayhikes and long trips with him are among my favorite moments of my life and I’m excited that he continues to want to do more of these with me.

[W I S N E R !]

Matthew….it was a ~4 mile hike, which was easy for them because I lied and told them to expect about 4 hours of walking.  Sometimes it’s easier that way. ;)

I’m in my 16th year of teaching full time high school ceramics.  I work exclusively with seniors (17 and 18 year olds) and also typically have a period devoted to a high concentration of students coming from special education, grades 9-12.

Yeah, the trips with my kids are precious.  It’s interesting how the dynamic changes with time and age; both my kids (daughter13 and son 15) increasingly want their friends to come- which is fine by me.  But we still get our solos in.  I haven’t done a trip with only both of my kids and I in some time; backpacking has typically been a way to spend one on one time with them.

 

[Ben C]

Man, I miss have teenagers at home.  It’s great to see others who appreciate and respect teenagers.  It’s a great time.  The make us old people better people.  My last one went off to college this year, so this really brings back good feelings when we used to family backpack.  I still go out with them when I can, but they are just starting to feel the pressures of adulthood.  It’s still really good but not as carefree as the wonder years.

[BlackHatGuy]

“It’s the old and the bitter that could probably use the help.”

That’s why I drink and smoke. :-)

A good, thought-provoking read Craig. I don’t think I could do what you do, I’m just not that good with kids. Of course, I’m not that good with adults either…

Your laid back reaction to the hammock getting trashed is a good indication on why you’re well suited to such endeavors. I know some adults (too many, actually) who would have been frustrated and angry in such a situation. Hopefully that teaches those kids that people are more important than things. We lose sight of that sometimes.

[ben .]

this is great.

[Matthew / BPL]

Full time ceramics teacher sounds like a great gig. I’ve seen some of your mugs (and maybe some other ceramics?) in other posts.

[David Thomas]

Good on you for getting them out there. The easy win is the time with your own son. And insights (good and bad) into the crowd he’s hanging with (but with you being in the school every day, as I am every week, we get a lot of that, already).

The bigger thing – that is unquantifiable and only 1 in 20 will think to send you a thank you message 20 years from now – is how much the *other* kids, the ones who’d never been backpacking before, will remember and take away from this experience. Good grief!, 40 years after being in MS and HS myself, I still get “that thing you said to me. . . “, “that article you suggested I read. . . “, “that trip we took. . . “, resulted in “. . . finding my passion.”, “. . . .determining my career.”, “. . . meeting my wife.”

You through art and the outdoors, me through math and the outdoors – we give kids experiences they wouldn’t have had otherwise. Take the compliments you are given graciously but also know that you’ve done 50x more good than you’ll ever hear about.

Our lower-energy approach has been to let each of our two children pick one friend to go on a trip with our family.  Last summer it was backpacking the Chilkoot trail from Alaska into Canada.  This coming August 21st it will be a total eclipse of the sun in eastern Oregon.  I’m not sure I’d tackle the math/sledding-in/winter-cabin-trip or backpacking/fishing/pioneering-merit-badge trips without some other parents along, but there’s a bit of socialism going on.  My kids and those of our close friends have great resources, ethics, and experiences from their own families.  There’s a lot of “wealth” being redistributed when you expose other kids to new experiences.

[BlackHatGuy]

“There’s a lot of “wealth” being redistributed when you expose other kids to new experiences.”

+1

[W I S N E R !]

Thanks, very well said David.

[Ethan A.]

Craig this was a great read reminding me of many trips, both as a teenager and accompanying teenagers (including the one kid who always brings the Rambo knife or other weapon). I’ve accompanied several groups of inner city kids on multi-day outdoor trips, many of whom have never been to a national park or spent a night outdoors. Just seeing one student start to experience wonder, slow down or overcome fears, is rewarding. I have very outdoors-oriented parents and grandparents to thank for that myself – my father took us on a lot of trips and was a regular on scout trips and even my grandparents did significant hikes with us into older age. My father’s patience for kids and joy in teaching them was legendary.

You wrote: “Two areas of education that I firmly believe are absolutely necessary, especially for youth:  the arts and the outdoors.  We need to be teaching children how to be whole, how to cultivate their own creativity and appreciate the wonder of the world around them.  The outdoors can teach them what it means to find joy in the world and each other without relying on possessions and distractions, to slow down and pay attention to what’s around them- both things desperately lacking for many contemporary kids.” So true.

I’m currently working on a maker education project. For a very interesting perspective on art and shop education, see this interview of neurologist Frank Wilson, author of “The Hand: How its use shapes the brain, language, and human culture.” For a print interview in UCSF Magazine, see: http://bit.ly/9uW1nR He discusses co-evolution of the hand and brain and the powerful impact manual manipulation has on learning.

 

 

 

 

[W I S N E R !]

Thanks for that link Ethan, I’ll definitely check it out later.  I’m finishing a Master’s in art education at the moment and reading and writing quite a bit on the topic.

Two trends that I’ve seem to be rapidly unfolding in society and education: urbanization, and thus a complete disconnection of young people from the natural world, as well as the complete exclusion of the arts and/or shop style classes that emphasize right-brain thinking as well as hands-on skills.  In my mind the two actually have a lot to do with each other, speaking to many of the same aspects of human development.  I don’t think it bodes well for our collective future- socially, environmentally, economically, and spiritually.  I’m not going to sit here and rail against the traditional academic subjects taught in school- I’m concerned about placing an emphasis upon them that is so great it amounts to the exclusion of everything else.  It’s a totally flawed model.

My son’s friends want to go out again, they’re asking about this weekend.  So that’s a good sign.

The other thing that occurs to me in all of this is the fact that neither my son, daughter, or I have been involved in the scouts, nor have most of my kids’ friends.  I’ve always laughed a little at the extreme amounts of protocol I hear about in scouting trips (Philmont), but honestly, it makes more and more sense when you’re taking out large groups of young people, especially ones that might be unfamiliar with the outdoors.  While I strongly believe in a certain degree of letting kids be kids and run wild, the next trip I take a group this big on (and they’re trying to get me to take an even bigger one) I’m going to spend a little more time laying down some ground rules.  If you’re an outdoors person you often take for granted what you know and practice and forget that it is not always obvious to others- like not leaving orange peels everywhere or pissing in streams. A  basic LNT curriculum.  People have to be taught if they’re going to be outside.

[BlackHatGuy]

“People have to be taught if they’re going to be outside.”

Very true, and applies to any subject. It’s true, you don’t know what you don’t know, and having someone who can teach or correct you (in a non-antagonistic manner) is invaluable.

[Author]

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