A talk and discussion with child psychologist, Jo McAndrews.
Find more information about Jo and her work here: https://www.facebook.com/parentsaction/

More and more people are getting involved in conversation and activism about climate change. It is a huge and frightening issue which needs urgent attention.

As adults we want to know:

• How to navigate this with our children
• How to talk with them about it and when not to
• How to best support them to grow their resilience and capacity to meet an uncertain future
• How to support ourselves in our own strong feelings so that we don’t unwittingly pass them on

This half day workshop has four main sections:

1. Am I safe, do I matter? – the neurobiology of child development and what children need most of all
2. Talking to children about climate change – age and development appropriate approaches
3. Involving children in activism – what to consider when taking children to adult activism, what are the ingredients of family friendly activism
4. Parenting as activism – how we can bring up our children for a very uncertain future, building resilience and resourcefulness. How to build resilience, creativity, inner safety, critical thinking, gratitude and love for the earthParenting for a new paradigm

The session will be a mixture of input from Jo and group discussions and questions.

This event is brought to you by Low Carbon West Oxford, in partnership with Flo’s, the Nature Effect, Rose Hill and Iffley Low Carbon, OxNest and The Children’s Allotment, and is part of Oxford Green Week 2019. It is part of LCWO’s ongoing work, in collaboration with a host of others, to support children in Oxford, with a focus on working through schools.

Who is it for?

It is open to anyone who is interested in supporting children (including teachers) and is for adults only. We are exploring the possibility of offering a creche space nearby, but this is as yet unconfirmed.

A message from Jo McAndrews about cost of attendance:

I am offering this talk in the gesture of gift, knowing that everything I have and know has come to me as a gift. This is not the same thing as it being ‘free of charge’. I have spent much time preparing for this talk and need financial support in order to be able to continue offering this work. I am learning about an alternative framework for using money as part of the new story we need when facing huge environmental and social upheaval.

My invitation to you is to consider how much money you would like to offer to support my work, then think about your own financial situation and what is realistically possible for you to offer. Whatever you come up with, that is fine with me. You are very welcome to be here whether or not you offer any money. This is not about the value of my work, or what I ‘deserve’ to be paid. It is about how we can support each other with the gifts we have. Like all of us, I still have financial needs to support my life and work. I also want to explore different ways from ‘business as usual’ to meeting those needs.

I am at the beginning of a journey to understanding all of this. I hope it interests you too.