Here the countryside smells of horse dung and the birds are chirping.
The surroundings indicate that we are far out in the country, but just 500 meters from here it says Hjørring on the town sign.
At the end of the driveway, three large rafters form an entrance gate to Gården Godthåb.
Stepping through it is almost like stepping through the wardrobe in the Narnia story.
Here are only fauns, talking animals and white witches if your imagination allows it.
On the other hand, horses, rabbits, chickens and the pigs Berta and Ulla live here.
It is Søren Elholm Larsen who has built all the facilities at “Fristedet”.
Photo: Torben Hansen
The place is owned by Maja Elholm Larsen and Søren Elholm Larsen.
The couple have lived on the farm for six years, and they now dream of sharing all that the place has to offer.
Community at child height
On 1 May, they will open the private leisure offer “Fristedet”, which will be a place for children in grades 3-6. class.
Here, Maja Elholm Larsen will use her professional knowledge as a psychotherapist MPF (member of the Danish Association of Psychotherapists, ed.) and experience as a former daycare worker to create a safe, caring and developing community for children.
– With “Fristedet” we want to broaden children’s perspective. We want to combine pedagogy with an understanding of nature, says Maja Elholm Larsen.
It is she herself who will be in charge of the day-to-day running of “Fristedet”, where she will be one of two pedagogues on site.
An alternative to the screen
The idea for the place arose in connection with Maja Elholm Larsen’s voluntary work for Children’s Adult Friends in Hjørring. Here she experienced that many children went straight home after school and sat with an iPad or a phone on the sofa.
– It is clear that children are hungry for a place like this. Even if the children who come out here have a phone, they don’t sit with it – because they are presented with an alternative, she says.
The horse Egon is one of the site’s three horses.
Photo: Torben Hansen
Ayse Kosar Larsen, who is project manager for leisure-time educational knowledge at the Center for Youth Studies, recognizes the trend of large screen consumption among children and young people. She agrees that it is about offering the children an alternative.
She sees a connection with the fact that enrollment in leisure activities drops drastically from 3rd-6th grade. class.
In 3rd grade, 77.9 percent are enrolled in an extracurricular activity, while it is 36.9 percent in 5th grade. In the 6th grade, only 24.6 percent are enrolled.
Her studies show that the vast majority of the enrolled children must decide for themselves whether they want to use the after-school program or whether they want to go straight home after school.
– When the children have got smartphones and they have the alternative of going home after school, it is tempting to bring home two friends and watch the screen, go home alone and play games or sit four friends on a staircase and watch TikTok videos, says Ayse Kosar Larsen.
In a questionnaire survey, Ayse Kosar Larsen has found that only 24 percent of parents have an insight into what is going on in the leisure facilities.
Private photo
Children’s social skills are declining
Ayse Kosar Larsen believes that there are leisure activities that do not create meaningful activities to such an extent that children and young people opt for them in their everyday lives.
– It’s not just that the parents haven’t understood the point of the leisure time offers, or that the children just want to use their screens. It is also about re-thinking the after-school educational offer in an age where the screens are a competition and where parents want their children to move, she says.
Maja Elholm Larsen is trained as a social and health assistant and later further trained as a psychotherapist.
Photo: Torben Hansen
Ayse Kosar Larsen’s studies show that the social skills of children and young people are declining. Therefore, she would like to see the field of leisure education increase the ambitions of the analogue communities.
– It is not enough to jump and dance for the children. If the social skills are challenged, then the door step to the leisure club is also higher, she says.
– The children who are extroverted and wade into communities and tell themselves what they do at the weekends will probably get over that threshold. But the leisure facilities have to think differently and systematically in how they make everyone feel welcome in this community.
The common third
For Maja Elholm Larsen, it has been important that there is a common third in the form of an activity or a project that they can have together with the children.
– The children who come here must help shape the place. At the moment we have two rabbits, but we plan to have more in the long run. The idea here is that the children should help watch the little bunnies grow up, and they should learn to look after them, she says.
The “sanctuary” has several small oases where the children can retreat.
Photo: Torben Hansen
She wants “Fristedet” to be a place where even children with thin networks can come and become part of a larger network with room for everyone.
– They will get a sense of togetherness from being in different groups. It may be that one day they want to go out to the horse, and the next day they want to sit inside and cuddle with a rabbit or sit and do homework, says Maja Elholm Larsen.
They have recently had visits from school classes and after-school children who have shown great interest in the place.
– Parents can come here and collect their children with a clear conscience. When the children have been here, the parents know that their children have been stimulated and that they have been with other children. They have not sat with a screen at home for several hours, she says.
– We have actually been called a direct competitor to the iPad by parents, adds Søren Elholm Larsen.
Although the project is operational, they have not yet succeeded in getting municipal support for the project.
– We hope that we will succeed in getting support from the municipality, so that the out-of-pocket payment from the parents can come down to DKK 750 per month instead of DKK 1,500, says Maja Elholm Larsen.
If it doesn’t happen, they are still ready to open in a little over a month.
– We know that it will not be a profitable business, but we dream of creating a place where we can help make a difference, she says.
2024-04-06 15:51:05
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