So what can you do when your 'child' is 18 years old - an adult in every sense except being able to drink alcohol in several provinces - and he decides to move away from home for nine months?
Well, I'm thankful for an excellent nine-month volunteer and personal development program for youth aged 17 to 21 called Katimavik. Participants live with 10 other young people from across Canada for the duration of the program. The group lives in three different communities - one of them French-speaking - and does projects that otherwise wouldn't be done without volunteer labor. This includes manual or administrative work and may involve work with seniors or young people.
When I suggested this program to Jackson he seemed taken by it immediately. He was quite dissatisfied with school and I could tell he wasn't going to be ready for school this fall. He loved the idea of helping others, learning French and living with others in a program that was far from home so he could be on his own.
My son is outgoing, smart, funny and adventurous. He loves to be physically active - jogging, working out, chopping wood at the cottage or while camping, hiking and canoeing. He'll more than likely never be satisfied with a 'desk job', but just exactly what he'll end up doing is unknown...now. He welcomed the opportunity to participate in Katimavik and see if he could figure it out.
Katimavik - "Doing. Learning. Building a nation...one community at a time." What a fantastic concept! I believe the most meaningful work we can ever do is to help others. My son and the 10 other young people who will live together and participate in the Katimavik program with him, are starting their adult lives living from purpose and 'giving back'. I am so proud of my son and all young people who realize there is something they can do to make this world a better place and then actually go out there and DO it.
With all that is broken in our education system, wouldn't it be a wonderful thing to encourage ALL Canadian youth to participate in Katimavik after high school? I'm positive that participants learn more about life and themselves in their nine months with Katimavik than in the entire four years of high school!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Going Home to Kirkland Lake - 40 Years Later
Who says you can’t go home again?!?!
It was 40 years to the day that I returned to my childhood hometown – in much the same rainy weather as when we drove out when I was a 10-year-old, broken-hearted to be leaving all my friends and the only home I knew. In 1968 there were more than 20 kids in our neighborhood of six houses in a small mining town called Kirkland Lake in Northern Ontario! My parents, younger sister, brother and I were moving to the big city because my father, who was a corporal in the RCMP, was promoted to sergeant and transferred to Ottawa.
Fast forward to 2008 and I had convinced my 18-year-old son Jackson to join me for a camping/canoeing vacation at Esker Lakes Provincial Park, near Kirkland Lake. This trip was a delayed part of his 18th birthday present – for me a ‘carrot’ for him to accompany me ‘home’.
The girl who answered the phone when I called the ranger office a month before to make our reservations made the portage sound quite easy and packed with wildlife. I booked four nights in the campground and three in the back country
Our canoe trip to our back country campsite involved 6-kilometres of portaging and paddling across four lakes!!! Carrying that canoe, plus all our gear - five trips to and from each portage - was quite the challenge!! I have the new muscles to prove it!! We had a very peaceful time once we were there - picked blueberries, canoed around Lulu Lake, read, watched and listened to the loons, saw an angry otter and we talked a lot. Jackson gathered wood and chopped it with a very dull hatchet, then he made all the campfires. I allowed him to set the agenda for the day and I cooked and did dishes. We were a bit concerned about bears, but I reasoned that since the blueberries were so plentiful this year, bears would not be interested in climbing up a tree to pull down the backpack full of our food that we rigged up for bear-proofing each night. I was correct – no wildlife bothered us!
Jackson and I had two days of activities in Kirkland Lake at the end of the week. On both days, Jackson was quite difficult to pry out of the tent in the morning so we didn't get going until early afternoon, but we still packed quite a lot into the time available!
We went to our old neighborhood and took photos of the houses. We walked around the neighborhood and across Murdock Creek - no pink and blue toilet paper in the water like there was in the 1960s. In 2008 - there were fish in there instead! I was quite surprised. Later, we visited the old Queen Elizabeth School site and drove around town. We drove by the old Northern News building where Dad used to work, parked and walked up Government Road - Jackson bought a birthday gift for Judy at The Jewel Box, and I bought him clothes at the outdoors store for his time at the Katimavik program starting later in September. Jackson got his hair cut at the old bus station - the barber is quite a character – he joked with us the whole time!! Jackson was quite pleased with his haircut!
While we waited for our Dino's take-out pizza to be made, we drove around KL - St. Peter's on the Rock, the new sub division and older areas where a friend of my parents still lives! We picked up the pizza and took it to Culver Park to eat in the gazebo in front of the lake. I took Jackson's photo sitting in front of the "Lifeguard Off Duty" sign. (It was an appropriate sign for him because he worked as a lifeguard in Scarborough this summer.) On our way back to Esker Park, we stopped to see the park on the Blanche River in Swastika – my brother Mitch fell into the water there when he was a toddler! We spent most of our last afternoon at Crystal Beach, which was as clear and cold as it was forty years ago!! We loved being there! Jackson actually went for a swim!! I took photos!
Our trip was a really great bonding experience for Jackson and me. He got to see me as a person (not just his Mom) and I got to see him as the take-charge, cheerful, delightful mature, capable young man he has become!! We found out that we make a great team – each of us contributing easily to our life in camp.
I found out that I can trust his judgment and can allow him to make important decisions for both of us. After all, his strategy and physical strength allowed us to avoid an extra portage at the end of our journey to our back country campsite!! We were told we would have to portage past the Trapper’s Cabin to get to the final lake because a beaver dam was blocking canoe access. When we got there, we discovered that the beaver dam was broken. Jackson, who was paddling in the stern, saw that if we paddled hard we could get the canoe through the opening, even though the water was rushing towards us. To me it looked as big as a waterfall!! He calmly announced that we would canoe up the stream of water. Initially, I didn't think it could be done and vehemently nixed the idea. He laughed and insisted that we cold do it, and I realized at that point that he needed to show us both that his plan would work. I stopped arguing and he safely got our canoe up the rushing water from the beaver dam into Lulu Lake. I was very proud of him!!!
I am also proud of myself that I went on this strenuous trip and that it worked out so well for my 18-year-old son and I to spend a week together camping. This would not have been possible two years ago when he was a rebellious, angry teen who moved in with his father because he couldn’t stand the rules my husband and I had at our house. What a difference two years makes! What a difference 40 years has made! But taking my son with me to go back to visit my old home meant that we created lots of wonderful new memories of Kirkland Lake and both of us speak fondly about this trip! I’m betting that we’ll be talking about this trip for years to come.+of+IMG_1223.JPG)
It was 40 years to the day that I returned to my childhood hometown – in much the same rainy weather as when we drove out when I was a 10-year-old, broken-hearted to be leaving all my friends and the only home I knew. In 1968 there were more than 20 kids in our neighborhood of six houses in a small mining town called Kirkland Lake in Northern Ontario! My parents, younger sister, brother and I were moving to the big city because my father, who was a corporal in the RCMP, was promoted to sergeant and transferred to Ottawa.
Fast forward to 2008 and I had convinced my 18-year-old son Jackson to join me for a camping/canoeing vacation at Esker Lakes Provincial Park, near Kirkland Lake. This trip was a delayed part of his 18th birthday present – for me a ‘carrot’ for him to accompany me ‘home’.
The girl who answered the phone when I called the ranger office a month before to make our reservations made the portage sound quite easy and packed with wildlife. I booked four nights in the campground and three in the back country
Our canoe trip to our back country campsite involved 6-kilometres of portaging and paddling across four lakes!!! Carrying that canoe, plus all our gear - five trips to and from each portage - was quite the challenge!! I have the new muscles to prove it!! We had a very peaceful time once we were there - picked blueberries, canoed around Lulu Lake, read, watched and listened to the loons, saw an angry otter and we talked a lot. Jackson gathered wood and chopped it with a very dull hatchet, then he made all the campfires. I allowed him to set the agenda for the day and I cooked and did dishes. We were a bit concerned about bears, but I reasoned that since the blueberries were so plentiful this year, bears would not be interested in climbing up a tree to pull down the backpack full of our food that we rigged up for bear-proofing each night. I was correct – no wildlife bothered us!
Jackson and I had two days of activities in Kirkland Lake at the end of the week. On both days, Jackson was quite difficult to pry out of the tent in the morning so we didn't get going until early afternoon, but we still packed quite a lot into the time available!
We went to our old neighborhood and took photos of the houses. We walked around the neighborhood and across Murdock Creek - no pink and blue toilet paper in the water like there was in the 1960s. In 2008 - there were fish in there instead! I was quite surprised. Later, we visited the old Queen Elizabeth School site and drove around town. We drove by the old Northern News building where Dad used to work, parked and walked up Government Road - Jackson bought a birthday gift for Judy at The Jewel Box, and I bought him clothes at the outdoors store for his time at the Katimavik program starting later in September. Jackson got his hair cut at the old bus station - the barber is quite a character – he joked with us the whole time!! Jackson was quite pleased with his haircut!
While we waited for our Dino's take-out pizza to be made, we drove around KL - St. Peter's on the Rock, the new sub division and older areas where a friend of my parents still lives! We picked up the pizza and took it to Culver Park to eat in the gazebo in front of the lake. I took Jackson's photo sitting in front of the "Lifeguard Off Duty" sign. (It was an appropriate sign for him because he worked as a lifeguard in Scarborough this summer.) On our way back to Esker Park, we stopped to see the park on the Blanche River in Swastika – my brother Mitch fell into the water there when he was a toddler! We spent most of our last afternoon at Crystal Beach, which was as clear and cold as it was forty years ago!! We loved being there! Jackson actually went for a swim!! I took photos!
Our trip was a really great bonding experience for Jackson and me. He got to see me as a person (not just his Mom) and I got to see him as the take-charge, cheerful, delightful mature, capable young man he has become!! We found out that we make a great team – each of us contributing easily to our life in camp.
I found out that I can trust his judgment and can allow him to make important decisions for both of us. After all, his strategy and physical strength allowed us to avoid an extra portage at the end of our journey to our back country campsite!! We were told we would have to portage past the Trapper’s Cabin to get to the final lake because a beaver dam was blocking canoe access. When we got there, we discovered that the beaver dam was broken. Jackson, who was paddling in the stern, saw that if we paddled hard we could get the canoe through the opening, even though the water was rushing towards us. To me it looked as big as a waterfall!! He calmly announced that we would canoe up the stream of water. Initially, I didn't think it could be done and vehemently nixed the idea. He laughed and insisted that we cold do it, and I realized at that point that he needed to show us both that his plan would work. I stopped arguing and he safely got our canoe up the rushing water from the beaver dam into Lulu Lake. I was very proud of him!!!
I am also proud of myself that I went on this strenuous trip and that it worked out so well for my 18-year-old son and I to spend a week together camping. This would not have been possible two years ago when he was a rebellious, angry teen who moved in with his father because he couldn’t stand the rules my husband and I had at our house. What a difference two years makes! What a difference 40 years has made! But taking my son with me to go back to visit my old home meant that we created lots of wonderful new memories of Kirkland Lake and both of us speak fondly about this trip! I’m betting that we’ll be talking about this trip for years to come.
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