LISTEN!

1. LISTEN! How to listen better to young children María Morfín Stoopen MÉXICO

2. The Problem • CRC recognizes the right boys and girls have to express their opinion. • Work is centered on children of school age and teenagers.

3. Little has been done to make sure that younger children are able to exercise their right to be heard.

4. Objective Creating a guide, or handbook, for parents and preschool educators which will furnish them with the tools needed to make them better listeners of girls and boys between 3 and 6 years of age.

5. Listening to teachers and parents Discuss the need of acquiring tools of this kind. Explore from their point of view the information that should be included in the handbook.

6. Two workshops Mexico City Tepoztlán, Morelos • 10 hours each • Groups of 15 participants

7. Workshop’sissues Recognize the characteristics of small children around us: their capacities, their environment, their needs.

8. What do small children talk about, what their interests are and how do they express themselves? What kind of tools do today’s children need?

9. What are the benefits of listening to children? Ideas about how to communicate all this to other parents and educators.

10. Workshop’sexercises Being a small kid Observing children

11. Talking with children Playing under children instructions

12. Listeningtechniques Barriers for listening

13. What did participants say They wish: • Practical examples • With illustrations • Direct and simple language • Address husband’s (men) interests • Exercises and homework • Complimentary information • If possible, have a video

14. Documentary research Bibliography review: • Democratic family relationships • Listening techniques • Children development Authors: Roger Hart, GerisonLansdown, Patty Wipfler, Jean Piaget, Vigotsky, among others.

15. Handbook’s Contents • Why listening to children? • How do small children communicate? • Good practices and suggestions for home and school • If you want to explore more…

16. How to • Just be there and listen • Be quiet / The shut up challenge • Respect the child’s opinions • Talk “with” and no “to” children • Listen actively • Say what you think • Give positive messages

17. Alliances Morelos State’s Basic Education Institute Handbook edition and distribution at 560 state preschools / Training for 140 preschools supervisors. National Council for Arts and Culture Handbook edition (6000 copies) and national distribution.

18. Preschools Call for workshops / Facilities Parents and teachers Participation and ideas NGO’s Content consultancy

19. Challenges • Slow public institutional decisions • Few men involved / Women’s issue mostly • There’s very few people interested / More important needs • Low budget • No traveling funds

20. How were these addressed • Flexibility on plans / Insist • Connect the issue with daily men’s experience and life • Put the right of participation as the key to achieve and respect all the other rights • Family support

21. Outcome • 30 teachers and parents aware of the importance of listening to young children • Handbook text • Federal and state editing and distribution commitments • State supervisors training commitment

22. Advocacy Lessons • Be persistent • Be flexible with your first plan • Talk about the idea with EVERYBODY • Don’t hesitate to knock doors • Expect help from unexpectedly people

23. Leadership Lessons • Define the project clearly • Don’t think that you are alone • Share your knowledge • Ask for other’s knowledge and ideas • Clarify your own commitment

24. This isn’t finished We need to: • Finish the edition process • Upload it to several webpages • Training process • Search funds or alliances to translate the handbook to English • Share it with World Forum colleagues

25. Thank you!