Tag: children
The Largest Perpetrator of Violence
Writes Free Your Kids: A quick welcome to those of you who have just joined us. We talk mainly about peaceful parenting, unschooling, and the abolition of the state. Wait? Abolition of the state? What’s that doing on a page devoted to freeing children? It all melds together seamlessly, I think. We’re anti-violence, anti-coercion, and…
The Right Thing for Our Children?
Written by Kicking it Unschool. Why do we send our children off to school when they are 6 years old? Just because that’s what most everyone else does? Because that’s what our parents did with us? If we didn’t have the idea that we needed to send our children to school at age 6, would…
You Ask, Can I Homeschool?
Writes Free Your Kids: You ask, can I homeschool? Do I have what it takes? Answer the following short quiz to see if you can be an effective home educator… Do I have a library card or access to books?Do I have internet access?Do I have markers, pens, crayons, paper, scissors, and other such things?Am…
Breaking the Cycle is Hard
Writes Kicking it Unschool: I’m going to start the day off on a negative note, but it will get better from here. I don’t always like being a peaceful parent. There, I said it. And I bet some of you feel this way sometimes too, and maybe you feel guilty about feeling this way, so…
What Can I Do?
Writes Free Your Kids: I cannot end the wars. I could call my congressman, send him emails, write editorials, and participate in anti-war marches until my feet fall off. No one gives a damn. I could vote for a candidate who promised to end the wars, but would he do it? Maybe. Maybe not. Either…
Unsolicited Evaluation Is the Enemy of Creativity
Written by Peter Gray for Psychology Today. Longitudinal research has shown that children raised by parents who are relatively non-directive and non-judgmental exhibit more creativity later on than do those raised by relatively directive, judgmental parents. In a classic study, conducted in the 1970s and ‘80s, David Harrington, Jeanne Block, and Jack Block assessed the…
Traditional Human Wisdom of Child Development
Written by Cooper Zale for Lefty Parent. Once the hunter-gatherer child no longer needs to “ride” and can walk and speak for themselves, they are generally granted an autonomy that a society like ours (what Diamond calls a “state society”) might well consider criminal child neglect.Read the full thing »
School is Bad for Children
Written by John Holt, as published at NaturalChild.org. Almost every child, on the first day he sets foot in a school building, is smarter, more curious, less afraid of what he doesn’t know, better at finding and figuring things out, and more confident, resourceful, persistent and independent than he will ever be again in his…
Because I Said So
Writes Kicking it Unchool: While raising your children, arm them with the rules they can take with them when they leave your home. The universal rules that govern us all. “Because I said so” doesn’t mean jack once they leave your house. Teach them the real reason to do or not do things. If you…