CHILDREN AND Y2K

Preparing children for Y2K needs to be framed in family preparedness and participation. It is scary even for adults to realize that so many things may change in their lives. Kids need to have their fears and uncertainty addressed by preparatory action, learning new skills, through stories and creative play, through talking with parents and other kindly but informed adults, and by changing present habits and experiencing new foods and situations.

Several friends have given me great ideas for helping their children.

One mother began by reading the Little House on the Prarie series aloud to her daughter. She sewed a Laura dress for her for Christmas, and included wonderful old style doll house furniture like a woodstove, handpump, washbasin and pitcher and handmade braided rugs. The father found and repaired a marvellous tiny treadle sewing machine for the dollhouse, too. These toys paralleled the wood stove, well, and adult treadle sewing machine the family have invested in and uses.

In another family, the father reads aloud to his son Sunday evenings by the light of their Aladdin lamp. For Practice Day they tried out some MREs they were storing for emergency food, and made a family event of camping at home. Using flashlights was a big hit with this small boy.

A family with older children has involved them in making lists of the kinds of things the family will need to store. Taste tests of various kinds of foods have produced a lot of good info on what the family will really eat, how well their propane stove works, how to wash dishes, etc., as well as some hilarious moments of fun. Actually shelving food, cleaning the garage, and gardening have been family projects.

One of their high school daughters is organizing a school club to inform and prepare kids as a school project. Y2K has also been the subject of college papers by an older son.

Many parents have been boosting reading and games to replace TV or video. Raising animals like chickens or rabbits can be a builder of good practical experience, and the kids love collecting eggs or combing angora rabbit fur. Getting kids accustomed to work, even at a young age, builds a sense of participation in the community.

In one family, both young children help their mother make beeswax candles by dipping (under careful supervision!). They also helped make Christmas breads by grinding the wheat flour.

Please let me know your good ideas and what has helped with your children.

-- donna Jones (seraphima@aol.com), March 10, 1999