Little Justice Leaders learn about Consent

Yesterday was the first Little Justice Leaders gathering on Zoom. We had a great discussion about Consent, co-facilitated by UUJAZ Executive Director Janine Gelsinger and her fourth-grade daughter, Vivienne.

So much was covered, including:
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- Creating a Covenant for our space together. UUs use covenants as the group agreements we make together in a gathering or meeting. Unlike rules that are made by just the person "in-charge", a covenant is made by the people in the space. Because this is so on-theme for consent, extra time was spent crafting this shared agreement, including a kid-suggested addition of "we should call people what they'd like to be called."

- Group discussion about what consent means (giving permission, asking for permission, setting a boundary, saying yes or no). We talked about how that relates to trust. We talked through several scenarios of consent: going into someone else's backpack, tickling, offering a hug, taking someone's photo, asking to borrow a toy. We brainstormed and practiced ways to say no. 

- During check-out, we affirmed that everyone has a right to "pass", another way to practice consent. Lots of kids took the opportunity to pass, which is great practice for telling an adult that you don't want to participate right now. 

Here is an overview of the lesson for you.

And, here are some more ways to talk with kids about this topic:

- A parent discussion guide for talking about safe and unsafe touch with your kids

- An activity poster, where you can make together with your kiddo(s) a list of safe grown ups to talk to

A tip sheet about modeling consent for kids -- which also has, on the last page, a list of books to look for at your library.

Afterward, we got some great feedback from parents about the session. "Thank you for the resources," "This was perfect for my three kids and they were engaged and enjoyed it," and "We look forward to next time!" definitely indicated the content was resonating with both kids and adults. We look forward to next week's class too.