Neighborkid Wisdom Revealed through Results-Based Accountability

Tonight when I got home from work I was greeted by a bunch of neighborkids who were on an accountability mission.  They remembered that I’d promised to share a chocolate Easter bunny with them, and they were ready for me to follow through on that commitment.

After everybody came inside and we’d divvied up / gobbled up the chocolate rabbit and washed it down with ice water, I asked the kids, “Will you guys help me out with my homework tonight?”  I wanted to see if we, as fellow neighbors, could try out an exercise I recently learned that is associated with a community change framework called “Results-Based Accountability.” 

The kids said okay, so I asked them to help me answer the following questions:

If all the kids in our neighborhood were        
                                                                        … happy…            

                                                                        …healthy…           

                                                                        …learning…

                                                                        …loved…

                                                                        …contributing…

                                                                        …loving…
                                                                                                      how could we tell?

Here’s what the kids (ages 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 & 10) had to say:

1.     If all the kids in our neighborhood were HAPPY we would notice:

·      Kids jumping on the bed and in trees

·      Every kid would have a nice monkey …or pets…or puppies

·      Kids drawing pictures with chalk

·      Kids having fun with Miss Allison

·      There would never be storms

·      The whole world would have superpowers

·      No kicking nobody

·      No fighting

·      No punching

2.     If all the kids in our neighborhood were HEALTHY we would notice:

·      More fruit

·      Growing up bigger and bigger

·      Lose weight / don’t be fat

·      Don’t be skinny

·      Have more superpowers

·      Gus (Miss Allison’s puppy) would be bigger

3.     If all the kids in our neighborhood were LEARNING we would notice:

·      Thinking in your brain

·      Go to school every day

·      Learn about everything

·      Don’t be bad – be good

·      Listen to the teacher

·      Follow the rules

·      They’re going to be outside all the time

·      Do all your homework

·      Don’t stand around on the sidewalk

4.     If all the kids in our neighborhood were LOVED we would notice:

·      People saying, “I love you” more

·      They would love dogs

·      They would love school

·      They’d go to somebody’s house every day and they’d let them in and they’d stay for like an hour

·      Ask them and they would say, “I am loved”

·      I love our neighbor Joanna

·      They would say “I love you” really much

5.     If all the kids in our neighborhood were CONTRIBUTING (doing things for our neighborhood and for the world, like grown-ups do), we would notice:

·      Kids helping their moms

·      Helping their dads

·      Helping their parents

·      Doing what your parents say

·      Drawing pictures on the road

·      Washing cars with grown-ups

·      They would have a shirt on about what they were doing

6.     If all the kids in our neighborhood were LOVING we would notice:

·      Kids loving their parents

·      Kids loving their grandmothers and grandfathers

·      Kids loving their cousins

·      Kids loving their pets

[What would that look like?  How could we tell?]

·      They would be happy

·      Well, say they were crying – someone outside, they came and talked to them and then they really weren’t crying because they were loved. 

I have to say, I am pretty impressed by how capable these neighborkids are when it comes to identifying what community planners and social service providers refer to as “population outcomes.”  Sure, there were a couple of “strategies” in the mix (like “every kid having a nice monkey” to be happy and “more fruit” to be healthy), but overall these were legitimate examples of community-wide well-being!

The neighborkids’ brainstorm has got me thinking again:  What as-of-yet-undiscovered potential might be revealed if we all were to orient in earnest around the wisdom of children?