Youth Program Schedule
Fun for All Ages!
The Congress begins with Kedjiwaan Day on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, July 1 - 3. During this time there is an offsite campout for children 12 and over which will start Wednesday morning and end Thursday evening. The childcare for children 11 and under will be done on a co-op basis in the rooms we have set up, and at the wonderful park across the street. Younger children may also go on the campout with a parent or other responsible adult over 25 who will take complete responsibility for their safety and happiness (no more than 5 kids per adult). We will have a meeting on Tuesday afternoon or evening to organize the co-op childcare.
The more official congress childcare program will begin on Friday morning. The childcare program is from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and then 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. (Of course these times will be adjusted if they don't work with the congress schedule). The home base for the youth program is in two large rooms on the second floor. For the older youth this will be just a base area, a jump-off place, because many activities will be scheduled that take us elsewhere--see the Activities page.
Nighttime Care: The childcare rooms will be available. Parents will need to team together to take turns caring for the children or they can hire a teen babysitter. There will be quiet craft and game activities available, and there is will be a quieter room with mattresses and cushions, a small television set and videos for those children who need to rest. This area is just upstairs one floor from the main congress goings-on.
Sulfiati Harris and Camille Hofvandahl are organizing the program, but to make it successful we need parents and interested Subud members to help in various ways:
- have a turn at taking a group of youth to one of the fabulous activities we have available to us
- drive one of the vans to drop off or pick up youth from an activity. Some of the activities are close so you can return to the congress.
- present a workshop geared towards the youth
- have a turn taking the little ones to the park, or do a special craft, or make a parade
- help us find cushions, games, books and sports equipment to borrow for the weekend.
For information on all of these please see the "Jobs/How Can I Help" page.
Children 3 - 11
The children in this age group will have their home base be in the childcare room on the second floor of the Hilton. In the evenings the childcare area will be open for parents to co-op childcare. The area is two rooms with a divider and one room will be a quiet area where children can nap or watch videos together so that they get a bit of rest. This childcare room is on the second floor of the Hilton. We will have one main person on duty here from 9 to 5 (except lunch) during the congress. We will also need at least one helper (more if there are more children or if we have several choices of activities at one time).
Activities for this age group include walks to the park to the playground or interactive water fountains, active games at the park, hands-on craft or science activities, storytime, and hopefully some dramatics.
Field trips for this age group can include the Clakamas Water Park on Saturday afternoon and possibly the Science museum on Friday for the hands on exhibits--it all depends on how we want to set it up. At the water park we have to have a 3:1 ratio of children to adult (could be a teen) and 2:1 for children three and under. There is a wading pool as well as a children's water slide, and a big wave pool for the older children in this age range. Check the Activities page for more information about the field trips.
Youth 12 - 17
Home base for this group is the Youth Cafe on the first floor. Most of the activities will be in the afternoon and evening. We have an overnight campout scheduled for Tuesday morning through Thursday evening. There will be many activities scheduled in the cafe (see the Activities page).
We also are trying to set up a special session for youth to meet with Sharif and Tuti Horthy. As most of you know, Tuti is Bapak's granddaughter, and Sharif traveled with Bapak for many years as his translator.
