|
by An Interview With Linda
Perlstein
When you are a veteran writer and have a master's
in international affairs from Columbia University,
but you want to go back to middle school, could
something be awry? Not for Linda Perlstein, because
along the road to discovering the mysterious
minds of middle-schoolers, she decided the best
research method was to spend a school year with
a group of five tweens as they managed the choppy
waters of middle school. A conscientious observer
in the lunchroom, the classroom, the hallways,
Linda Perlstein found pearls of wisdom for her
book, Not Much Just Chillin':
The Hidden Lives of Middle-Schoolers, and, not just for
her book, but for anyone working with the modern-day
tween. As she encircled herself with the ideals,
whims, rebelliousness, and quirkiness of this
group of tweens, she built a path of hope, genuine
concern, and renewed understanding. With witty
humor, a tellit- like-it-is attitude, and a refreshing
no-holds-barred banter, Perlstein shares her
lessons learned in this exclusive interview with
Camping Magazine, which is merely a glimpse of
the knowledge she will share during her keynote
presentation at the 2009 ACA National Conference.
As a camper yourself, what camp experiences
did you take with you into adulthood that positively
shaped your career aspirations and life goals?
Camp did not necessarily lead me to my career,
except for my ongoing interest in middle-schoolers
. . . I loved that time in my life, and camp
was a big part of why I liked being twelve.
There
was always something special about the sense
of community and independence that I found at
camp, which helped me set my own course. It's
really important for camps to continue to provide
these skills, because often children aren't
being taught these skills elsewhere — which
is the case more so today, than ever. We are
working so hard to direct our children to do
well, we forget how independence and self-direction
make a better adult . . . and a more interesting
child for that matter.
Describe the impact the
camp experience can have on today's tweens:
First of all, in the years of early adolescence
because of the way the brain develops, things
that you learn are more apt to stick with you
during that time of life. It's a great
time to learn new skills. I learned at camp to
horseback ride and water ski; I learned these
skills at the right time in my development, so
when I go horseback riding and water skiing now
as an adult, I can do it. The early stage of
puberty is a critical time in brain development.
That's why you can, for example, learn
multiple languages as a child but have trouble
learning different languages in college.
Additionally,
there is something extraordinarily valuable about
taking children out of a typical situation and
giving them the opportunity to create a different
reality. They can be pegged early on in a social
group at school: as the popular kid, the loser,
or whatever. It's really important for
them to be given an opportunity outside of their
normal lives to re-create themselves to whatever
they want to be, and camp allows that.
Share your insights into how campers in their
tweens and early teens view life and the important
issues of which camp professionals should be
aware:
Tweens and teens are certainly smarter
than we give them credit for being. They are
highly attuned to hypocrisy; they are starting
to see connections with themselves and the outside
world, and they are finally at an age when they
begin to understand that their parents aren't
perfect, however, they don't see the imperfections
in other adults. Because of this, the role of
the camp counselor is particularly important.
You may witness tweens "clinging" to
older teenagers and adults. Clinging is understandable;
they still want and seek the approval of adults
and older kids. I think this is important to
understand when you think about how tweens view
the world.
In what way is modern-day childhood
and tween life different than when the Baby Boomers
came of age and in what way is it the same?
I
think kids are under more pressure than we were
at that age. It's easy to lapse into nostalgia
and think it's the same and that they are
faced with the same cultural pressures. When
we were young, we had the kids department at
JC Penney® to shop at; today they have a
wing at the mall. They have movie ratings dedicated
to them. Entire television stations are devoted
to children. The line between adult and child
has blurred. Children today have to navigate
this information and knowledge: they often have
adults in their lives who share their problems
with them; they face sexuality in the media and
around them, regardless of what they are doing;
they communicate with kids and interact continually;
they deal with academic pressures to excel and
the sense that you can't just do Little
League and show up a couple times . . . today,
if you miss one practice, you're kicked
off the team; they are challenged by the intensity
of sports and extra-curricular activities — childhood
used to be pure fun, but now it's almost
job-like.
Developmentally, many of the same things
are going on as they did when we were kids. It's
still a wonderful age just like it always used
to be to learn things. It's still a fun,
silly age to be a kid, and that hasn't
changed.
How are the "halls of suburbia
middle school" and the "cabin walls
of camp" similar in respect to offering
the same environmental dilemmas to tweens?
You
are still desperate to fit in whether at school
or at camp, still worried if your arm pits smell,
and still trying to figure out who you are and
what you're all about. At camp and at school,
you are navigating between child and teen, and
in the end, you still have grown ups telling
you what to do.
Whether in camp or in school,
kids in the middle-school years want to know
why they have to do something in a certain way
or why things happen; they need the help of adults
to understand that.
And, like their teacher counterparts,
how can camp staff be prepared to successfully
deal with these challenges?
They have to know
what to do with a bunch of eleven-year-old girls
boxing out another girl . . . . it's not
something to be ignored. Camp like school and
home is a place to learn right and wrong; camp
needs to provide opportunities for discovery and
choice. Kids should have some role in deciding
how to spend their days and be given the freedom
to make mistakes, too. And, about parents, some
of you may not agree, but we have to keep parents
the hell out of their business, while they are
at camp as much as we can. Camp is a child's
own space and that should be sacred.
It is said
that your book, Not Much Just Chillin',
offers a trail map to the often baffling "no-man's
land between child and teen, a time when children
don't want to grow up, and yet so badly
do." How can camp staff offer a unique
positive influence on youth today that is different
from the educator's influence?
Camp counselors
have the freedom to be friends in a way teachers
may not have the opportunity to do. A camp counselor
does not need to focus on making the child "more
accomplished," and as far as I'm
concerned, shouldn't. The camp counselor
is doing a child a great service by helping him
or her learn to explore, enjoy, make choices,
and be a friend.
What were some of the most significant
lessons you learned from the children whose middle
school lives you chronicled in your book, Not
Much Just Chillin'?
The main thing to understand
is that they have a far deeper interior life
then you realize. They struggle more than you
realize. A boy gets crushes just as much as a
girl; however, boys may not write it on their
shoe or notebook. I wanted to show in this book,
just how deeply these children feel.
Originally published
in the 2009 January/February issue of Camping
Magazine.
|
