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My two kids are 8 and 11, and like any kids in this modern age of mass consumption and consumerism, they think a great deal about the things they want for themselves: the shiny new iPad, gum from the local convenience store, a break from homework — those, I'd say, are among their top 10 daily thoughts.
(Hey, I think about the shiny new iPad, too, so I can hardly fault them for that.)
Of course, they don't usually get these things, but hey, sometimes they do get the gum.
But one of the great things about watching your kids grow up is seeing the realization awaken in them that the world does not actually revolve around them. It's a wonderful moment when you notice them wanting to be part of the bigger world — and even better, being part of the solution to those things that are wrong in the bigger world. In fact, once they realize all that is wrong in that bigger world, it's frustrating to them, both because they want to do something about what they see — and they usually want to fix things right away, right now.
And I certainly don't fault them in that, either! It's frustrating to me as an adult, too, because, here's an example — okay, I am going out on a limb here politically and saying I am trusting what 95% of the world's scientists say — but we've got to get our co2 emissions under control. It's so obvious to kids what to do; why don't we just do it, they ask? Well, good question. It's amazing how I have to explain things like "the profit motive" and "entrenched interests" to my 11-year-old when I try to tell him why we're not building windmills through the mid-West or mandating better gas mileage from the cars sold in the U. S.
And they're not blind to the world they'll inherit if we don't get on the right track.
Okay, that part is frustrating, for certain, but here's the good news: when kids have the tools to get involved in their communities, or even in world problems, their optimism and enthusiasm knows no bounds.
Recently, I've been watching my kids get addicted to the little web site I've been working on with a few friends — a web site called earthbongo.com. The idea is that it's your home for ideas and projects that make the world a better place. And man, have they ever embraced it! They start projects all the time, ranging from reusing bags at grocery stores, picking up garbage in the street, turning off light bulbs in the house — and they look for other kids, and other adults, too, to join in with them.
My friends and I decided to allow kids under 13 to use the site — unlike on Facebook, say, where you have to be 13 or older. We just don't show some of their identifying information (no pictures of their faces; no last names; no email addresses). The site, with its community outreach tools, seems to fit a niche for them, somewhere between Club Penguin and the older sites they're not allowed to sign onto yet.
But whether they do projects on earthbongo, or whether you just tell your kids, "Okay, what do you want to do about these problems? Let's do something that makes a difference!" — it's amazing how my kids end up pulling me along, rather than having me push them into it.
Maybe, if they keep it up, they'll have earned a stick of gum from me after all, without even having tried to.
