Opening Heart to Families on a Playground
Article by Monica Thom
edited and curated by Rachel Hentsch
Introduction
The Concordia U.lab Social Innovation Hub is a diverse and multi-generational learning community of students, educators, and members of the local community who gather throughout the fall semester to embody a bold vision of next-gen education, blurring the boundary between university and community.
Learners are asked to bring their change projects, ideas and passion into the hub. They then work with these projects using a process provided by u.lab — a MOOC (massive open online course) which integrates social science, mindfulness and design thinking in the service of societal transformation.
Learning or Sensing Journeys are one of the u.lab practices that pulls participants out of their daily routine and allows them to experience the organization, challenge, or system through the lens of different stakeholders. Learners break through patterns of seeing and listening by stepping into a different and relevant perspective and experience, and gaining a system perspective.
These Learning Journeys allow participants to:
- Move into unfamiliar environments
- Immerse themselves in different contexts
- Step into relevant experiences
Here is a personal account of a Learning Journey.
Learning Journey
Exploring my neighborhood is an activity in which I seldom participate. My local ventures have as yet been limited to the most efficient route to and from the metro, grocery store, and farmers market. Stepping outside my apartment without a clear destination in mind was extremely uncomfortable. I stood there, hard pressed to resist my Voice of Fear (VoF) encouraging me to turn right, the direction of all things familiar; a moment passed before I realized that the Voice of Fear was preventing me from letting go of old patterns (for more information, see The Essentials of Theory U: core principles and applications — Scharmer, 2018). I turned left.
I ended up on a bench near a playground occupied by seventeen adults and twenty-four young children. During the walk over, I focused on seeing, dropping judgment and assumption of items before me in order to awake as an observer, “notic[ing] what is new and see[ing] the world as a set of objects that are exterior to [me]” (p. 24). Sitting on the park bench, I closed my eyes to the lively playground commotion and drew my attention to sensing. I smelled crunchy autumn leaves merging with rich soil. I felt the skin between my sit bones and the bench providing cushion and comfort. I heard the children giggle and parents voice encouragement or warning. I tasted possibility.
The joy emanating from these playful people was tangible and infectious. I realized I was smiling. A sudden and unexpected feeling of connection came over me, my sense receptors dropped from my head to my heart and I felt as though a string tied to my sternum was pulling me towards each individual on the playground. My heart burst open. I felt the energy, love, purpose, protection, and awe from the parents, and the freedom, curiosity, exuberance, performance, and capability radiating from the young ones on the playground. Time of day suggested that the parents had recently left work, picked-up their children from school or daycare and these jovial moments marked the highlight of their day. I felt simultaneously maternal and childlike, synchronized with the movement, energy, and intentions of the forty-one strangers interacting in the social field before me.
At one point, a father extracted his phone from his pocket to receive a call. A swift social field scan revealed a strange absence of electronic devices, more absent here than other spaces I had recently occupied (school, the metro, the street). I found this curious, for my studies of Youth and Media teach of the 21st century technology moral panic fuelled by adults afraid of children over-consuming media. The scene before me suggested something different. Aside from one mother who photographed her swinging toddler and the father who stepped aside to receive a call, the remaining parents engaged with their children or other parents. This presented me with a question: how can parents foster healthy technology consumption practices for their children and how does physical play fit into shaping one’s electronic device dependency or lack thereof? I had begun to think with my head again rather than drop into my feelings, so, I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and let my senses explore the field further.
Analysis
My learning journey surfaced two key realizations. First, I had allowed an assumption to follow me into the field; that assumption being that adults (parents included) are technology obsessed and as a result, children learn to believe that a person is not a person until they own a smartphone. I was thrilled to experience a scene that challenged this assumption. My perception of the techno-panic issue widened. Second, during my sensing journey I awoke to a goal for my future career; I want to work with families. I became consumed by a need to help shape childhood development through planning healthy technology consumption with families. This crystallization of future vision felt warm, energizing, almost magical. Emergence of inner knowing and connection to a potential self leads me to believe I have arrived at the bottom of the U, the “eye of the needle” (p. 50).
Sensing the social field was a practice I was nervous to attempt, and as a result of the course so far I had mixed feelings about the “broadening of perspective” I had come to expect after reading The Essentials of Theory U (Chapter 2, Scharmer, 2018).” Letting go of the voices of fear, cynicism, and judgement proved the pinnacle action that allowed me to enjoy a smooth journey of the senses. Knowing that I am capable of experiencing such a journey, I intend to apply the sensing framework to various life experiences in order to deepen my connection with self, other, and the world.
Editor’s note: Monica Thom is currently a student at Concordia University, and participating in the u.lab course via the Concordia U.lab Social Innovation Hub, led by Eva Pomeroy — Social Innovator in Residence at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.
