ParPal_project

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Parental Pals are passionate parents who believe in open minded education.
Their key elements: a global perspective, playful curiosity, confidence, respect,
good humoured common sense and partner families with a kindred spirit.

They see the benefits of cooperation. Here is where they meet.


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	The PAR PAL travel project

	is an experiment. We particularly invite the media to watch its progress. The project is designed to promote and support the key idea of Parental Pals - the creative co-operation of families:

		Famillages: Cooperatives of Family Infrastructures


	Complaining is silly. Either act or forget. Stefan Sagmeister


	Individual family connections create the village which it takes to raise children, they work best when there is ample time to build trust and familiarity. They need slow growth and consideration. Holidays offer an ideal framework to take the step from virtual to real contact:

ParentalPal.Org invites twelve times three families to form project teams :

Thirty six Parental Pal families are invited to demonstrate the power of co-operation - The model scenario below explains the idea with kids and youngsters taken from the actual membership base, composed into a mix just as it might turn out:

Every family decides first which criteria are OUT and which are IN for them: boys-only (such as teams no 2, 6, 9, 12), girls-only (1, 3, 7, 11) or mixed-gender (4, 5, 8, 10); within their own continent (teams no 1, 5 and 11) or across two or more continents. Of course this is not just a question of having an adventurous spirit, but of available funding too, so more of that later. Next they decide on their priorities in terms of language, hobbies, sports, cultural activities and - quite importantly too - which things they always wanted to do and which places they always wanted to go to, because now their time has come!




		Having guts always works out for me. Again Stefan Sagmeister

What are they expected to do: find each other through the various selection processes and come to a decision who to be partners with. Assess the options, advantages and possible drawbacks of all three home environments and find a well timed schedule, taking into consideration the (sometimes rather different) school holidays, their parents’ available time and resources and perhaps local peculiarities. Depending on distances and family circumstances they might end up splitting the summer into three equal periods; alternatively they might want to divide the summer holiday between just two of them and save the third destination for the autumn or for christmas time.

An example - the arrangement of team nr. 12: Nico (17) from Chile and Beat (16) from Switzerland first meet at Caetanos (17) home in Spain where they get to know each other personally at last after many chats and mail exchanges. They all have a passion for football. Beat has been studying Spanish for four years in school, he is not fluent but keen to improve. Another thing they have in common: all three fathers are lawyers. Since all parents communicate well in English they managed to prepare their first meeting very efficiently. After three weeks in Salamanca they get picked up by Beats parents and taken to Lucerne. Now Beats and Caetanos parents have spent a couple of days together and they all start feeling quite comfortable in each others company. In Lucerne they have ten more days together, then Nico has to get back to school. But first they go hiking in the Alps and see quite a lot of Switzerland.

At Christmas time they meet again, this time in Valparaiso, and with all parents. Both Beats and Caetanos parents had their doubts initially about partnering with a third family quite this far away, but the overwhelming natural and cultural beauty of Valparaiso turns their apprehensions into sheer enthusiasm! The summer in the southern hemisphere, the amazing Chilean hospitality, the overwhelming friendliness of the locals, the music and the architecture capture their hearts immediately. For the lads it turns out a true eye opener too and they decide to let the visiting wheel become a family tradition.

Another example / team nr. 5:
These kids move within the European Community and within a - relatively speaking - small part of the world. The main reason for this is their age. Ella, Marc and Gerrit are eleven years old and there are three things they have in common: their particular interest in chemistry, a talent for languages and - but this is nothing but coincidence - their red hair. So it seems pre-programmed that they will get along just fine! They first meet at the beginning of their summer holidays in Gerrits place in Amsterdam, then they spend three wonderful weeks together in Norway and let the summer end with a fortnight in the UK. Their parents come along for the first week, naturally they want to have a very good look at what kind of family they are about to entrust their beloved child with (playing with chemistry kits ...).
They return feeling inspired by their new friends and happy with the idea that next year they can send their kids off on their own, knowing them in good hands.
A key factor for all: they have created a summer time-capsule in which they need no longer worry about the question “how do I keep the kid occupied sensibly during the way-too-long-holidays?”.


	googlemap Größere Kartenansicht


	What do Parental Pals want to achieve ? * Let their kids have a good time * Let them learn a lot and enjoy the process * Introduce them to the “playground world” * Create a powerful incentive to learn languages


	* Combine this with their own interests and have fun too * Be part of their kids’ life * Get a lot more quality out of holiday time * Optimize holiday schedules for all family members * Match all that to fit family resources


	The PAR PAL travel project and how to join:



			Every family with a valid Parental Pal membership is entitled to join and enter this game of global family interplay, starting at any time and of course from any place. There is no age limit either, so theoretically there might be even a baby-club on its way. However, the ideal age group are the ten to 18 year olds.



	Twelve teams who feel it will be even more fun if they share their story, their pictures, their experiences and their conclusions with the public and with ParentalPal.Org can join the official Par Pal project on a first-come-first-served basis:

They will be offered professional organizational support through the Parental Pal team and a Par Pal contribution to the family travel budget of EUR 300 plus a EUR 100 bonus for going to another continent. Any team of three families in good agreement regarding their mutual plans can deposit their interest in joining the project, there will be a specific online form for this purpose after the launch and a weblog covering the progress. Dynamic interaction between the PAR PAL project and the Global Thinking Kid Award is going to keep them both interesting and full of impulses for the future!


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	All registered members, new and existing, are personally invited to join. If you have questions regarding the ParPal project, please do not hesitate to contact us and ask about anything you want to know.


	Travelling is my form of self-education.


	Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia


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