#ParentingChanGen

"Imagine you wake up to a 'change' tomorrow where school buses will not stop for students to board them, what would you do to ride that bus?", I quizzed my 11-year old daughter.

"I will not board it as you tell us not to board a moving vehicle", was her response to this intimidating change, conditioned of the rules as set by me as a parent.

"I am glad you are mindful of the safety rules, but considering attainment of education as critical while keeping safety as non-negotiable, what would you do then to board that bus?", I nudged her.

"Hmm…if so, tell me what speed is the bus moving at?", she asked this time gearing herself to ride change.

"Not too fast.", I informed. "Then I’ll learn the art of running alongside the bus as it moves to gain enough momentum to board it", this time she responded putting her knowledge on law-of-inertia to practice change.

"What if it moves too fast for you to match its speed?" I planted ‘velocity-of-change’ into our change-scenario.

"Haha…I’m thrilled now…so, I’ll stay ready with my roller skates on and a lasso rope to tag its noose with the bus to skate along", she responded standing in a cow-girl posture, bringing in her creativity-tools-techniques (jugaad ;) to drive this change in velocity. 

"Now what if the brand-signages & school name on the bus get removed, how would you recognize your bus to board it in that fast-moving mode?", with this, I added volume-in-change.

''Ohh…that one’s easy, I’ll try spotting co-commuters from my school in the buses passing by and attempt boarding the bus in which I spot them'', she introduced her learnability of patterns in practice to drive change. I further disrupted the change-scenario with added volume when what you change, changes everything, ''Now that it becomes futile to have a designated bus-stop, the buses are open to choose their routes to schools with no designated routes and schedules-set, what would you do?''

''Pa…when & where is this ending?!'', she retaliated. After putting in my convincing skills, I could buy in some more time of her to stay with me in this conversation. ''Well, I hope the buses are still equipped with GPS devices in this change? If so, we’ll form an online community of co-commuters and ping each other their respective location as one boards the bus so that each-one can track the right bus and its route-of-the-day; this will enable us to station ourselves well-positioned to board at the right time'', she came back as an orchestrator of change after a few iterations of her hypothesis, realizing the need for equitable collaboration by other stakeholders & platforms in an open & fluid manner, for her to succeed.

Now that was a good segue for me to bring in other characters into the conversation and introduce variety-in-change, ''Now imagine how would an ability-constrained school-mate of yours board the bus in this change-scenario, given she is challenged to move as well as to spot familiarity in daily co -commuters?''

''Pa! can we not exempt her of this change?'', came of her reflexive empathy(feeling for other) towards the new character added to the scene. I informed, ''Change is ability-agnostic, hence, everyone is included in this new reality.''

To this, she responded, this time with her emotional empathy(feeling like other) in play, ''We, the online group of co-commuters, will take turns in walking from one point to another and collectively escorting her to school on a wheelchair''.

''Could you do this everyday, forever?'', I quizzed on sustainability of her endeavor. This kindled her cognitive empathy(shared feeling/thinking/acting with other) as she responded, "I don’t mind doing it forever but yeah you are right, she might not like this being done for her, everyday''. Something sparked in her, ''Aha! You said education is critical and not going to school, then in that case, can I not work for her to learn from home? Doing so will not only solve her problem but also a lot for many of us, too!'' With this she segued into changing the framework, in her humble brave way!

I did not give up either, ''Well, in your learn-from-home model, will you not miss out on the social interactions and the sense of community you currently get exposed to & experience in a school campus?''

''I... don’t know'', thoughtfully, came of her as she rushed back to go cycling with her younger brother.

I truly believe 'not knowing' is the best place for her to start finding her next and I know she’ll find it sooner now.And... I’m waiting. ??

The above conversation was my personal experiment to simulate Theory of Change in practice, envisioning #EveryoneAChangeMaker, and further stimulate interest in my child to see the new reality for her to get equipped in responding to, driving & orchestrating change, for our common future.

#ParentingChanGen #YoungChangeMakerinMaking

Mindful Disclaimer: Any seemingly weird idea as arrived at during the conversation is to be comprehended within the context of this post and such stimulating conversations are to be treated in a controlled environment. The intention is clearly not to inspire children or anyone to get equipped in boarding (fast-)moving vehicles.