"New influencers"
Listen to your children. Invite your children to listen to you. Talk to a partner family online, together.
Lockdown saves 90 minutes daily commuting time. Let's use this time to cultivate good conversation!
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Saturday, March 21.
Maria is a mother in an SOS Children's Village in the south of Spain. It's more than a full time job. |
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In 2005, 5.500 Children's Village mothers worldwide were awarded the Women's World Award.
Maria abhors online influencers, she hates the impression they make on her adolescent foster children, the superficiality of their talk and their self-marketing strategies. Maria has seen too much of life, she says, not to be appalled by people who try their hardest to make teenagers want to have stuff they can't afford in order to pursue a beauty model they will never meet. She believes that nobody should ever value impeccable make-up higher than sincerity, helpfulness, determination, grit and character.
But Maria knows there is no point in preaching. Kids need role models.
So she decided to let her entire family - six teenagers from difficult family backgrounds - take part in The Liberating Lockdown Talks experiment. Her idea: She would present the kids with amazing personalities they had never heard of before who were miles away from standard beauty ideals and truly astounding in what they did or achieved. Maria knew lots of people like that.
Then the kids could take turns in presenting people they considered cool. They would discuss their merits and keep a journal, recording what they thought about each other's choices and the arguments for or against them.
Maria started with Big Mama Thornton. Now that's six new fans added to her list.
But Maria knows there is no point in preaching. Kids need role models.
So she decided to let her entire family - six teenagers from difficult family backgrounds - take part in The Liberating Lockdown Talks experiment. Her idea: She would present the kids with amazing personalities they had never heard of before who were miles away from standard beauty ideals and truly astounding in what they did or achieved. Maria knew lots of people like that.
Then the kids could take turns in presenting people they considered cool. They would discuss their merits and keep a journal, recording what they thought about each other's choices and the arguments for or against them.
Maria started with Big Mama Thornton. Now that's six new fans added to her list.
