5 Years with the Kids' Editorial Department (A Parent's Real Perspective)

I am Kana, a parent and adult supporter (currently working behind the scenes) whose son is overflowing with joy to finally become a member of the high school division this spring.
It has been exactly five years since my son joined the Kids' Editorial Department. This time, I would like to share my thoughts while looking back on these five years, including the background of why our family chose this editorial department.

Since he was small, our family was one that would look up every event or workshop in genres our son liked and visit them frequently.
Saying this might make us sound like we were highly conscious parents, but it was actually the opposite.
I felt so insecure about my own parenting that I think I was trying to erase that anxiety by diligently participating in every fun-looking event I could find.

　He seemed to like making or drawing things.
　He was obsessed with trains day and night.

Since these were events chosen based on his own "likes," they were of course very enjoyable as parent-child time, but no matter how many we went to, I had the feeling that the experiences were disappearing like bubbles somewhere. There was no real sense that the experience was "accumulating" within him...

This is a story from when I was in elementary school, but my world was limited to the commute between a rural school where anyone who stood out was crushed and a relatively strict home, and I was a child who always felt I had no place to belong.
If I had had even one place back then where I could safely be myself, the world I saw would surely have been a little kinder...

While carrying that experience with me, when I considered my son's personality, I thought:
“I want to create a third place for him that isn't home, and where he doesn't have friends from school or extracurricular lessons.”
“It will surely become a place he can rely on, not just during his adolescence, but even after he becomes an adult.”
It was with these thoughts that I encountered the Kids' Editorial Department.
It was a place for children that also offered practical experience—it was exactly the kind of place I had envisioned.

The first time my son participated was in a "Video Production Workshop."
He participated as one of the same "experiences" as before, but what I clearly felt was different from previous experiences was the "atmosphere of not treating children like children" in a good way.
　
The instructor was a professional in that field. They didn't make it a trial version program that intentionally simplified things for children; instead, they provided content with high reproducibility, just like a professional experience for adults. I remember it being incredibly fresh, covering everything from the specific tools used in actual work environments to the gritty reality that the work leading up to the video production itself is actually much longer and harder than the production itself.

　From there, the scale of the editorial department grew, the things we could do naturally increased, and while we were having fun with our activities, a problem of my own as a parent surfaced.
“Wouldn't it be better if you did this here?”
“You should have said it like this earlier.”
I realized that I was arbitrarily judging whether my own child's words and actions were correct or incorrect in that situation...

　While all the other adult supporters had their own personalities, not a single one wavered in the stance of respecting the child's will first. In such a strong yet kind atmosphere, my own over-involvement stood out. Having assumed that I was usually able to act in a child-centered way, it was quite a shock when I realized I was the one who wanted to interject, or that I was unconsciously trying to take the lead in decision-making instead of respecting his will...
(It's precisely because it's hard to be objective that I'm really glad I noticed it.)

The fundamental premise that "the protagonists are the children."
The adults here don't escape into a vague, superficial atmosphere; they are seriously trying to realize such a world! It was because this was a site where the "serious resolve" of all the adults involved in the Kids' Editorial Department was conveyed that I was able to feel this.

I got a little carried away and talked only from a parent's perspective...
So, what exactly did my son gain from the editorial department?
This is also subjective, but I wrote down everything that came to mind!

・A sense of security that his thoughts and feelings are accepted just as they are when he shares them
・An environment where he can proudly say what he likes
・The ability to take responsibility for his role until the end as a member of the community
・The sense of accomplishment that comes from delivering something received as a job in a visible form
・The joy of seeing such work spread beyond our own living sphere and receiving reactions
・A broadening of perspective born from interacting with people of types he doesn't usually meet, and from various generations ranging from babies to the elderly
・The power to question what is taken for granted
・The flexibility to accept the words of people with different opinions as one way of thinking

I think again that the Kids' Editorial Department is a place where children full of potential can simply embody what they "want to do."
Whenever necessary, they gather all kinds of professional power and wisdom, and by combining them to make the most of them, they are realizing various "wants."
Requests from companies and local governments are also increasing, and the moderate pressure born from being conscious of connections with society seems to be a good stimulus for the children.

I feel again that it is a unique activity to assemble children's "wants" as a job in a form that can be output in some way, rather than ending the landing point at just a "sense of accomplishment."
In the process of interacting directly with people there, being able to grasp socially necessary skills—such as how to convey intentions so they are properly understood by the other party, and human etiquette and manners—through a visceral sense is also one of the big byproducts gained from editorial department activities.
I am finally able to experience in the editorial department a "living experience that one can truly feel is being accumulated within the child."

　Now that information can be obtained only within mobile phones and PCs, children are made to feel as if they know things just from edited videos or clipped information. There must be many people who are worried, just like me, about how to approach that in the future. Whether you are a parent who wants to know where your child's "likes" are directed, or a child who already has a dream they want to realize concretely, please come and take a look at the activities of the Kids' Editorial Department.

Person who wrote this article
KANA | Kids' Editorial Department Parent and Writer

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