2012 Childcare and Children’s Program

Volunteer Check in:

***childcare volunteers will be meeting at Judson Church (55 Washington Square South, New York, NY) on Friday the 13th from 5:00pm until the 7pm native solidarity event.

Feel free to stop by to meet other volunteers and check out the space.

Support children, parents and caregivers at the NYC Anarchist Book Fair

check this page for updated kid’s activities

Childcare hours:
Friday April 15th: 7-10pm
Saturday April 14th: 11-7pm
Sunday April 15th: 2:30-7pm

Location: Judson Memorial Church

*RSVP to arrange for childcare outside of these times

**Due to ongoing construction at Judson our usual childcare space has been moved to the Judson Balcony above the vendor tables. Please respect and remind others that this space as reserved for children and caregivers.

**Presentations described by their presenters as child or teen appropriate have been marked as such in the program.

To volunteer, inquire about, suggest an activity or RSVP for childcare email or contact 917 842 2985

The NYC Anarchist Book Fair (April 13-15) is committed to supporting a multi-generational movement and will support children, parents and caregivers to the best of its ability. The weekend will include a space with ongoing activities for children, including photo and video editing skillshares for younger teens. People who would like to drop by and tell a story, play a game, share a skill or otherwise help out with childcare duties are welcome to stop by.

In addition, Judson Church is generously offering 2 small rooms for kids and caregivers who require a more quiet space.

Though we provide space and activities for children maintained by a small but dedicated crew of caregivers, we do not require properly supervised kids to be confined within it. We ask all book fair participants to be supportive of kids, parents and caregivers wherever they are (see concrete ways to support and political prisoner David Gilbert’s appeal to men in regard to sharing childcare duties below), as we do not discourage them from attending any part of the venue, including workshops.

The success of this weekend’s childcare requires the support of all participants of the book fair. We do not require presenters to tailor their presentations to children (though we encourage it), but accept that ‘kid noises are the sign of a growing movement’ (quote from prison abolitionist Jason Lydon of the Community Church of Boston) and ask that all participants share the sense of community responsibility needed for a supportive environment. People who cannot get their heads around this concept should reconsider their attendance.

So drop by the childcare space and play a game, share a skill, tell a story and meet the next generation of young radicals.

Thank you for supporting a multi-generational movement.

NYC Anarchist Book Fair Collective

All Ages Workshop

3) Hip Hop is our life/Hip Hop is resistance – Saturday **3:30-5pm** Judson Balcony (time offset from regular schedule)
Spiritchild
*Hip Hop 101
*Discussion on the elements of hip hop and the importance of preserving this culture of resistance.
*Local to Global Connections with social struggles of black and brown movements for liberation.
*also making connections to current youth work with alternative to incarceration programs throughout nyc.
*Performances (within workshop presentation)
*all age appropriate

Video/photo Editing – time to be announced

Native American Story Telling – Friday night 7-?, maybe Saturday

—————————————————————————————-

Concrete Ways to Support Parents and Children in Your Community/Movement (compiled at the La Rivolta! Anarcha-feminist conference, March 2006)

1- Give Children Attention. Say something to them: just be your true self, whatever you are thinking, they are open to that. Children act better when they get attention. In the beginning of a meeting if a group gives the children some attention, they are often happier and better behaved for the rest of the meeting.

2- Develop childcare as an ongoing relationship with a child – it takes some time to get to know a child before they are comfortable with doing stuff with you away from their parents.

3- Offer a slot of time, to spend time with a child on a weekly basis

4- Integrate children and adults: it’s more pleasant to watch children with other adults to talk to; it’s more pleasant for the children to see adults enjoying each other and not feel a burden to them.

5- Include children in the planning of any activity, like a sewing workshop for instance.

6- Doing something child-friendly? Ask a kid if they want to come along. (Lizxnn has been taking Siu Loong for Critical Mass rides for three years and she loves it.) Children can benefit from activities their parents don’t do and parents can benefit from the time to themselves.

7- If a baby is crying because it needs to be held and the parent has their hands busy and can not hold it; offer to hold the baby.

8- If a child is making a disturbance in an area, offer to go outside with the kid so the parent doesn’t have to leave the event.

9- Meet parents at their level: come visit them at home or where ever their spaces are. Let parents talk about being parents: realize having a child is like having the most intense love affair you have ever known (says one parent. Another says – not.)

10- Acknowledge children: don’t treat them like they are invisible

11- Give us a smile!

ALSO – When providing child care at political events (and every event should have child care!)

12- Visit the children and childcare providers in daycare – and say “Hi!” Childcare providers can feel isolated from others at the event. Have a cup of tea with them! (suggested by Siu Loong, age 5)

13- Parents with different aged children have different needs. Parents with younger children or children who aren’t comfortable leaving their side yet would benefit from childcare that was off to a side of the same room or more central to the main events. Parents with older and more independent children benefit from having them in a different room or floor. Either way, childcare must be accessible.

14- Parents need to give more input to the day-care providers, about their and their children’s needs during the planning of the event. At least tell them you are coming and the age of your child/ren.

15- It’s comforting for parents to know childcare is available, even if they don’t use it

AND – Contemplate

16- How much work/consuming being a parent is: 24/7; in the beginning years it’s hard to even think straight: one is still adjusting to being a parent and young children’s needs are very intensive

17- That radical parents don’t fit in at mainstream places, like their children’s schools – so when they go to an anarchist gathering and don’t feel supported by their own culture – how bad that feels.

————————————————————

February 17, 2010
An Open Letter to Movement Men

To My Brothers in the Movement,

This open letter is a call, made both passionately and emphatically, for movement men to get fully involved in childcare. Childcare is one of the most demanding and most rewarding jobs in the world and is essential to advancing the struggle. I’ve been surprised to learn that in this day and age that responsibility still falls overwhelmingly on women. Men’s failure in this regard is not only unfair but also hurts our movement since it is a major impediment to women’s participation, to the full range of contribution they can make. But even more, if truth be told, this aloofness damages men the most because we cut ourselves off from the regular interactions that can enrich our lives in many ways. Children ask the questions that make us think more deeply about everything, exude the energy that buoys our spirits, embody the potential that gives us hope for the future.

It’s for the children that we fight to make a better world. Brothers, it is way past due to get fully involved in childcare.

David Gilbert

(anti-imperialist political prisoner)