L.I.F.T.

My good friend Kwame Brown recently posted an article from the Star Tribune’s “Your Voices” site, entitled “Stadiums versus our children’s future.” The article asks why $1 billion would go to a new Minnesota Vikings stadium, while funding for Early Childhood Development (ECD) seems impossible to get.

I posted a response to the article on Kwame’s site, which I am republishing in full here.  I’d love to know what you think about this.

Interesting article, for many reasons.

This argument is old as the hills.

What blew me away was his honesty, right up front.  The author says – “I’m not sure it was a realistic choice (in part because I love the Vikings).”

This is how he initially frames his review of different policies and reasons for ECD.  So the entire time, in the back of our minds, we’re thinking “it isn’t realistic.”

He sums up by serving another seemingly insurmountable blow to the whole concept, quoting the unnamed state legislator, who says – “It’s simple, at the Legislature it is about entrenched interest and power and children don’t have either.”

How are we supposed to feel when we read an article like that?  Does it lead us to come up with solutions, or merely to shrug our shoulders at the progress of the “inevitable?”

The question posed (which is never explicitly posed, or expanded upon) is “How do we get more funding for ECD?”

Priorities will always be priorities.  But priorities are shifted by action.  The Minnesotan’s love of the Vikings is a priority that is manufactured by media, social persuasion, and everything underlying that (desire for power?  money?).

The question is, how do we shift priorities, or at least make our priority (ECD) seem like a valuable partner-priority to already existing, dominant priorities?

Tax-breaks are one way.  Why do we always see those United Way campaign commercials from NFL footballers?  Well, teams/organizations and individuals get to write off charitable donations.  Maybe that’s one way.

Another way is one that Arne Naess recommended the “ecological” movement in the 1970’s take – to make an economic argument for “green.”  It took a lot of years for people to grasp his message, but now that it’s happened, you see it everywhere.  Everything is sold as “green,” and people come together under the “green banner” to get things done (even very opposite groups, like Exxon and Greenpeace).

Under the “green banner,” and all of the ideals and slogans that it stands for, corporations can see a way to continue to make profits while serving the people’s desire for efficiency and ecological-friendliness.

Many of the efforts for ECD, or childhood development in general (including play and physical education, arts education, and education generally), fail to recognize this important fact – their “customer” is the organization from which they’re seeking assistance.

That is, they need to market to the groups they want help from…

Instead, these groups often just talk about their own interests – like a selfish boyfriend or girlfriend.  “Blah blah blah, I want more money for the children…” is all the owners of the Minnesota Vikings hear.  They drink their wine, look around anxiously at the other tables in the restaurant, wondering how the Redskins owners got that good looking partner, and why they’re laughing and having so much fun…they excuse themselves to go to the bathroom and then make a break for their car, never looking back.
Consider this – how would you create a “product” out of Early Childhood Development?  What would that product look like.  What problem would it solve for the people who could buy it (who are not children, by the way…they are adults, and in the case of the article listed, corporations)?  What are the compelling fears and desires of your customer (those adults and corporations), and how can you appeal to those fears and desires in your marketing?  How do you solve their problem?  How do you put the risk of buying your product on yourself, and take the risk off of your prospective customer?  Finally, how do you sell it?  And once it is sold, what happens next?

My good friend Kwame Brown:

director of fitness at the Arlington, VA, Lee-District RecCenter; PhD. in neuroscience; founding member of the International Youth Conditioning Association; Exuberant Animal (par excellence):

and all-around good guy, needs your help.

He’s trying to get some insight into the factors affecting child development – from parents, educators, and policy-makers.  I’m sure that he’d even accept some ideas from folks who have an educated opinion, but don’t fit into any of those specific categories.

Please go over to his site and offer some ideas.

Hi!

Exuberant Animal is holding its first ever East Coast event on the weekend of November 7th and 8th, at the Gerstung Intersport Center, in Baltimore, MD.

The event is only $150, and includes 2 full days of play and learning, dinner on Saturday night, and a party.

Click this Picture to Download the Event Flyer

For those of you who don’t know, Exuberant Animal is a group founded by Frank Forencich that promotes health, vitality, and happiness, through physical activity – in particular, in play and play-based movement.

EA is built around a concept of fitness that comes from an evolutionary perspective of the human animal.  We advanced through eons of development by being playful – inquisitive, adventurous, daring – by experimenting with new ways of doing things.

This evolutionary perspective is a large part of the EA mission, and includes addressing not just the ills of sedentarism, but also the ills caused by some of our modern “conveniences” – shoes, computers (and other devices leading to repetitive stress syndromes), hard flat surfaces, etc.

Because of this, you find people as diverse as Mick Dodge (the Barefoot Sensei), Barefoot Ted McDonald (barefoot running expert, and one of the cast/characters in Chris McDougall’s new book “Born to Run“), Kwame Brown (neuroscientist, child-development expert, and board member of the IYCA), Dr. Stuart Brown (head of the National Institute for Play).

As different as we are, we all share a common belief in the benefits of play for all people.

For me, being a part of Exuberant Animal has been a transformative process.

Having been in the fitness industry for 9 years now, and involved in play (in every aspect of life) and physical activity for my whole life, I’d come to a point where the traditional approach of sets, reps, and boring static exercise using machines, dumbbells, and other equipment, just wasn’t making sense anymore.  I could feel the boredom flowing between my clients and myself after their umpteenth set of squats, bench press, or other “traditional” exercise.

Taking the reps/sets out of exercise, and injecting play in its place, brings diversity to movement.  From that diversity, happiness grows.

As anyone knows who ever played competitive sports, you were at your peak when you weren’t focused on how much conditioning you did that day, but on how much you were “in it” – in the flow state.  This is the state of play – where possibilities are open, you are unselfconscious, able to enjoy using your body in the moment to have fun and accomplish your desired goal.

In my experience, what most clients suffer from is a lack of motivation.  Then, they come into the gym and we put them into bizarre circumstances where we’re observing and correcting them, making them even more self-conscious.

EA provides alternatives through fitness “games” that make the process interactive, playful, and most of all FUN.  You still get to work people in all three planes of motion, you still get to use whatever equipment you like the most, but now you also get to engage your client’s spirits in their workouts.

If you’re on the East Coast, and you’re at all interested, go to the EA website, check out the details, and register for this event.  It’s going to be great – and even greater if you’re there!

I’ll see you there!

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

I just got back from the Exuberant Animal summit in lovely Leavenworth WA at the Sleeping Lady retreat center.

All I can say is WOW! It was a truly transformative experience. There were about forty of us at the summit – trainers, physical and cognitive therapists, bodyworkers, scientists, corporate professionals – and it felt like one big family reunion.

We got to spend a lot of time playing. We also got to hear from some great teachers. I highly recommend the work of these folks, put them on your to-read/see/meet list!

Gary Avischious, from the Coaching School

Dr. Stuart Brown from the National Institute for Play

Dr. Kwame Brown of the International Youth Conditioning Association

Deborah Forster, cognitive scientist from the University of California San Diego

Dr. Peter Hercules, author of Liberating the Caged Human Animal

Scott McCredie, author of Balance – In Search of Your Lost Sense

Mick, the Barefoot Sensei, from the Land Itself – http://walkingmountain.org/

And of course, plenty from the man himself – Frank Forencich.

The weekend was so full of life, I’ll be processing everything we learned for the rest of my life! LIFT has changed as a result as well…particularly in the form of: MORE PLAY