Something that I didn’t realize until recently is that since being part of this internship I am always tuned in.

Let me break that down a little because that is such a broad term! What I mean is that with all the research and background knowledge we are learning, I am turning that lens on the world around me. I find that I am observing the community around me, taking in what spaces there are for children, how they are able to navigate the area. I am even tuning into the radio more to see if more people are talking about child-friendly cities.

This morning I just happened to stubble upon the radio host interviewing someone from Mind and Soil (you can find them on instagram @mindandsoil) and they were discussing the benefits of children looking after plants. One thing that caught my attention was that having children take care of a plant, no matter the outcome of it, that they form empathy for the plant. They become invested in the plants growth, life, and taking care of it. I hadn’t thought of having a child take care of a plant could translate into something even larger outside of the school setting like that.

Just something to think about, make sure you keep yourself open, your ears open while you are out in the community, listening to the radio, or t.v., you never know when you could stumble upon something that could help you change the spaces in your communities. AND listen to the children in your life, they have some cool ideas of how to transform the world around them to make it better for them.

For now, I am going to keep ‘tuning in’ and being open to the information around me that could help influence my community to make changes.

– Stephanie