In the Generations in Conversation course we acknowledged that healthy engagement between generations happened best when people related with poise.
Once again we drew on Rick and Kathy Hicks who say that sharing from personal experience helped participants understand their unique values, giving them something to compare and discuss with others in their life. They stress that it is best for people to do their own assessment. We were assured that we may not related to the dominant values of our own generation, perhaps because we had aligned with particular Biblical values or because of a unique experience of growing up. We were given the challenge of developing an enjoyable process of sharing answers and telling stories, listening with open hearts and minds. Our goal was to understand not judge the values of others, not trying to persuade them out of their values.
As a group we talked through ten questions for reflection and discussion.
- Where did you grow up during your childhood and teen years? Did your location have any particular impact on your values? How?
- What was your family situation like during your growing up years?
What was the status of your parents’ marriage?
Describe your siblings and how you related to them
Did you have any extended family members closely involved in your life?
How would you describe the emotional climate in your home?
How was discipline handled in your family?
What was your family’s economic situation? What was your family’s attitude toward money? How was the reflected in your values?
What was your relationship with your parents like when you were a teenager? - What role did religion/church/faith play in your upbringing and value development?
- Were there any significant people in your life (outside your family) who had a significant influence on you? Who were they and what did you learn from them?
- What events in your growing-up years had an impact on you (personal, political, social, economic, inventions/new technology, etc.) and how did it affect you?
- What were the schools you attended like? What factors in your school environment had an impact on your values, and how did they affect you? (educational methods, racial mix, economic factors, teachers, extracurricular activities, personal success or lack of it, etc.)
- When you were about 10 years old, who were your heroes (or who impressed you)? What did you want to be when you grew up?
- What forms of media were you exposed to most in your growing up years? What types of TV shows, movies, music etc. did you enjoy most? What were some of your favourites? How do you think they influenced you?
- Who or what in your life most influenced your attitudes or beliefs about the following:
Marriage/family, Money, God, Work, Education, Government/authority? - Have you had a significant change in any of your values as you’ve grown up? What caused that change?