My son comes to me about once a month complaining of boredom. I remember feeling this way when I was his age, and of course I’ve felt this way as an adult. After this last instance, I become a bit more thoughtful and began wondering where boredom comes from, why it exists. The world is full of amazing things, and as unschoolers my son has complete control over his time and what he does with it. Talking through this with my wife I made a few interesting realizations, which I’ll get to. But first, why the boredom? Here’s my theory: boredom is the absence of felt uneasiness.
Tag: curiosity
Learning: It’s Not About Education
For the very youngest children, learning is constant. Their wondrous progress from helpless newborn to sophisticated five-year-old happens without explicit teaching. They explore, challenge themselves, make mistakes, and try again with an insatiable eagerness to learn. Young children seem to recognize that knowledge is an essential shared resource, like air or water. They demand a fair share. They actively espouse the right to gain skills and understanding in a way that’s useful to them at the time.
Indoctrination and Mind Control
Indoctrination, in the Webster II New College Dictionary is defined as “to teach to accept a system of thought uncritically”. Mind Control is a more intensive form of the same thing, requiring some form of physical or mental torture. Indoctrination and mind control can be used to instill a system of ideas before an individual has been subjected to any belief system or it can be used to change the system of beliefs already accepted by an individual.
On Perpetuating Ignorance
I witnessed recently a busy grandmother telling a toddler “no, no” when the latter was trying to grab at a curious looking empty drinking glass. The toddler persisted, which caused the grandmother to threaten a time-out. Aside from the obviously silly threat of punishment for being curious, the greater crime committed by the grandmother in…
No Hitting! – Full Book
No Hitting! A Short Guide on Why Spanking is Unnecessary by Skyler J. Collins, Published 2015 Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Paperback ($6) and other digital formats found here. Preface Here it is, my third published work and second written entirely by myself. Everything Voluntary: From Politics to Parenting was an anthology I…
Chapter 3 – Hurting Themselves or Others
Table of ContentsPrevious – Chapter 2, Preventing Misbehavior Chapter 3 – Hurting Themselves or Others It might seem logical to cause a child pain in order to teach him what pain feels like, so that he’ll refrain from hurting himself or others. Unfortunately, when a caretaker intentionally hurts his child, he’s doing far more than…
Toward a Free Society – Full Book
Toward a Free Society A Short Guide on Building a Culture of Liberty by Skyler J. Collins, Published 2015 Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 InternationalPaperback ($6) and other digital formats found here. Preface This isn’t my first publication, but it is my first publication that I authored entirely. Everything Voluntary: From Politics to Parenting…
Chapter 4 – Radical Unschooling
Table of ContentsPrevious – Chapter 3, Schooling Chapter 4 – Radical Unschooling As shown in the previous chapter, schooling is an extremely poor practice for building a culture of liberty. Parents who’ve begun building that culture at home through attachment and peaceful discipline will find schooling to be a major counter-productive step in the socialization…
Chapter 3 – Schooling
Table of ContentsPrevious – Chapter 2, Parenting Chapter 3 – Schooling Schooling is the typical next step in a person’s life, and the socialization that occurs in school is quite ill-suited to building a culture of liberty. That’s the intent, actually. Modern schooling was founded in Prussia as a means to socialize children into the…
Spanking is Always Unnecessary III: Hurting Themselves or Others
Send him mail. “One Improved Unit” is an original column appearing sporadically on Thursday at Everything-Voluntary.com, by the founder and editor Skyler J. Collins. Archived columns can be found here. OIU-only RSS feed available here. Spanking is Always Unnecessary I: IntroductionSpanking is Always Unnecessary II: Preventing Misbehavior It might seem logical to cause a child…