Childhood Changemakers – ‘How a Playful Spirit Can Transform the World’ has been an adventure of over 18.274 years of ‘growing down’ and playfully working in solidarity with system change leaders transforming childhood in the US PK-20 education system and across the globe. I have noticed something scintillating…
The path of changemaking can be….fun! At times, it can be playful, whimsical, ridiculous, and that balances times when it is excruciatingly serious as well. The vision is also the path, so if the vision includes guffaws, naps, and dance parties then so will the path 🙂
This is my dance of the playful and the serious on the changemaker path.
And of course my path began with my own childhood…
My dad was the hype clown, for my mom, also a clown. End of story. It all makes sense! It is true my parents were both clowns together for a minute and I do dedicate my childhood changemaker journey to my parents Debra and Maynard Metler. My childhood changemaker journey began being ‘loved up’ by the playful spirit of my family, my partner, my closest friends, my mentors, and all of those playful spirited children who have shared parts of my life from across the globe.
I see the wisdom of a playful spirit comes from resilience to the trauma and oppression that my ancestors persevered through, that my parents somehow inspirationally transmuted their childhood trauma into unconditional love for me and my siblings, creating a loving childhood for us even though they did not experience a loving childhood themselves. That is a miracle. And it took hard work. My parents, although magical, are people, imperfect as all adults are and within a larger society that controls and disempowers children as a norm, did their best to give me a playful childhood with memories of dancing to Raffi music and a large imagination (with my older siblings creating games out of everything like biking around our ‘flying’ driveway 3 times took you to different lands.) But also my childhood came with it striving for perfectionism in school and sports and challenges with anxiety and depression in early adulthood with rooted feelings of not being enough, of not being able to contribute enough to transform the world, and resisting the transition to the rigid non-magical adult world void of the qualities of childhood such as play, REALationships, and the imagination.
The adulthood part of my global adventure began when, as a volunteer through the Pangea World Service Team, my heart got connected to a lovely, vibrant, and resilient Nicaraguan community on the outskirts of Managua. I taught music education and became ‘Papaya’ because the kids said my face looked like the shape of a Papaya. They lit up my heart with their music, poetry, ridiculousness, and the realities of growing up quickly in extreme poverty. I came back from this trip feeling overwhelmed of how to make a difference, and was compelled to take action in any way I could in what I now know as traditional activism – I was a facilitator with Occupy Detroit, I marched in the streets any chance I got, joined Teach for America, and aspired to be like MLK and Mandela. This path always left me feeling angry ‘fighting for social justice’, feeling like I could never do enough with what I learned was a savior mindset, and feeling like I was living what I call ‘the changemaker paradox’.
The changemaker paradox hit in the contradiction of coming back from this trip with an insatiable need for making a difference for our global community while feeling disconnected from my home community, not being able to transform any of the brokenness in my own family, and finding myself personally struggling with anxiety and depression without awareness yet of the self-care/love I needed to be there for myself in a kind and loving way that mirrored how I aspired to be there for others around the world. I would soon begin to learn how to empower myself and connect authentically across levels of change.
My internal process of empowerment began with training in the art of facilitating diversity dialogues by the Program on Intergroup Relations (IGR) at the University of Michigan to integrate the best tools of traditional activism with what is called ‘relational activism’. IGR gave me practice in a deeper critical awareness of what social change looks like in everyday moments, (in relationship, in conversations, and across power divides) and empowered me with tools to make wise daily choices that align with my values with perspective on identity, power, privilege, and oppression.
I then had the honor of meeting and working with Teresa Graham Brett, the author of Parenting for Social Change, on a follow up to her ‘mind blowing’ book. Teresa was the first changemaker I had met who had integrated her work for social change through her personal life with integrity to her public life. Teresa’s wisdom illuminated how all of our greatest social issues have their roots in the way adults treat children and transforming the world requires adults heal from their own childhood to balance the serious and playful in their changemaking journey.
Teresa showed me how empowerment is a skill and a process and we must begin with facing the reality of the universal common human experiences of disempowerment and powerlessness in childhood to re-empower ourselves over a lifetime. The empowerment process for my own changemaking continued with critical playful education experiences in Detroit, being a camp counselor in California, researching bi-cultural education in New Zealand, studying practical wisdom in Madison, exploring ecological systems in India, presencing in Burma, running a marathon in Egypt, walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain, researching attachment amongst the great apes in Rwanda, supporting youth with autism in Arizona, and starting a mother-son band with my mom in Detroit. The journey continued across ‘the village’ of childhood changemakers with over 18 years of experiences locally and globally across PK-20 education, parenting, changemaking, social entrepreneurship, youth mental health, children’s hospital’s, foster care, juvenile justice, and authentic youth empowerment all in solidarity to transform the world with a playful spirit and facilitating changemaker empowerment from Detroit to South Africa with mentors Dieudonne Allo and Anitra Rice.
Seeing everyday ordinary moments connect to our larger social movements with a playful spirit being the liberating force. To re-connect to our playful selves we must feel safe, non-judged, and trusting. Playful social change happens at the speed of trust. It is in playful moments that I feel most alive and it is a state of being that you can tap into in any moment in a skillful way. These moments are rebellious, they are genuine, real, and fun. It is what life is all about – the surprise of a playful conversation exploring new ideas, of authentic connection, of full presence and integrity – the ways in which the ordinary can become extraordinary in any moment. I see playfulness as an intentional approach to everyday moments and not just as a framework or orientation to social change or roles in which you connect with children. That is what childhood changemaking is all about – a playful integrated spirit, reconnecting with your inner child to love your whole self, connecting with children and adults authentically, and bringing the best qualities of childhood into your life to inspire the imagination of how to live most fully and joyfully.
My journey so far has highlighted that we each transform the world as we transform ourselves – and to do that it takes balancing the serious with a playful spirit together as childhood changemakers! .
The simple wisdom I am learning on the changemaker journey inspired by childhood:
- The qualities of childhood – play, creativity, curiosity, risk-taking, resilience, and collaboration – are the qualities of transformative changemakers, social entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, educators, parents, and all those who are a part of the village of childhood changemakers transforming the world with a playful spirit.
- All of our greatest social issues have their roots in how adults treat children as the common elements of oppression (power over dynamics, disempowerment) have their roots in childhood and transforming the world requires adults healing from their own childhoods. Integrating our disempowering experiences, what I call our ‘anti-resume’, transforms our powerless, disempowering, setbacks, and failures into our superpower to connect and lead from our wholeness. Adult liberation is inextricably linked with child liberation – the deepest ‘interest convergence’ possible that shows our liberation is bound together.
- Adulthood and changemaking doesn’t have to be so rigid, exhausting, and predictable. It can balance the serious with the playful, joyful, whimsical, imaginative, and magical. Adults can reclaim the power they lost in childhood and reconnect to their playful spirit to connect with children and themselves in authentic ways that are empowering and truly loving. It takes playful integrity, REALationships, and inspiring our imagination!
I have founded the Swing Set Institute to empower a loving village of changemakers inspired by the wisdom of childhood! I hope you will join me and co-create our village of childhood changemakers to transform the world with a playful spirit!
Sincerely,
David Charles Metler
David Charles Metler
Founder, Swing Set Institute