Upstander: A World-Changing Kids Definition

And our Upstanders Academy:
https://worldchangingkids.ca/archives/6155

And raising Upstanders is the goal of our World-Changing Kids Learning Community:
https://worldchangingkids.ca/archives/6008

So before going any further, I thought I should share our definition of this awesome word.

This is the word that I think best fits what we are doing here at World-Changing Kids. We are working to raise children who are confident, passionate, inspired, innovative, creative and engaged citizens and leaders. We are aiming to raise children who know that they can be part of the solution. Rather than what I think we are seeing a lot of recently, which is youth and young adults who are apathetic, anxious and depressed because the world is overwhelmingly bad and they don’t know where they can fit into the solution.

And the way we do all this is really simple. We talk to kids about real life issues, at levels they can understand and handle, letting them lead with questions, and then we pair that with an action they can take to help make things better.

So, we talk about homelessness and then we partner with We Live in the Shadows to assist them with their street outreach efforts. Or we talk about MMIW and then we join Theland Kicknosway on his run to raise awareness for this important issue. Or we talk about deforestation and then the kids record a podcast about this – which is something that three of the kids in our Upstanders Academy are working on.

Taking action, helping others, making things better in 1,000 small ways, is how we are going to change the world for the better – and it also makes us feel better!