Great discussion...
- I am a 'dinosaur' (mother advocate who lost her son to overdose) so I am a 'little' past my youth stage but I am involved with a lot of youth initiatives.
- It is a conundrum....and we adults sometimes make it so complex trying not to offend, so we end up creating 'tag lines' by default to engage youth.
- I love that Deana was brave enough to say..."As a youth, that offends me" and then Patrick's pointed out that it was actually youth approved- so in essence the creators followed the 'protocol' of engaging youth.
- My guess is that the 'tag line' was thought up by adults and then asked the youth if it should be used.
- I have discovered through processes that we adults need to just come from the heart when trying to engage, validate and support youth in the processes.
- I think what may have been 'offensive' is the assumption that youth won't think they are wise.IE:"Not sure if you have “wisdom”? You don't have to be old to be wise".
Youth generally know they are wise and it is the fact that they continually have to 'validate' that to adults that seems to annoy. Admittedly, it is hard to find that perfect balance. I myself have been reminded several times that I made a youth assumption because I was using my adult filter.
Betty-Lou Kristy
PROVIDING EVIDENCE from community to systems level policy, planning & governance