This episode features an audio essay written by education reformer John Holt in 1974, which comprises Chapter 27 of Everything Voluntary: From Politics to Parenting, edited by Skyler J. Collins and published in 2012.
Tag: parenting
Lenore Skenazy: Overparenting and Bad Public Policy (48m)
This episode features an interview free range kids activist, author, and syndicated columnist Lenore Skenazy from 2019 by Trevor Burrus and Aaron Powell, hosts of the Free Thoughts podcast. Should children ride the NYC subway by themselves? When did children stop having unsupervised and unstructured time? What did ‘strange danger’ do to change the way we parent? What are the consequences of over‐parenting?
Nemo Sundry: Jordan B. Peterson Doesn’t Understand Childhood Suffering (37m)
This episode features a presentation by youth autonomy advocate and independent researcher Nemo Sundry from 2018. Sundry critiques Peterson’s chapter on parenting from his book 12 Rules for Life, and contrasts it with parenting experts Shefali Tsabary, Alfie Kohn, and Peter Gray.
Role Modeling, Discipline, & Parental Differences (32m) – Episode 316
Episode 316 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following topics: role modeling male behavior for your daughters, and other valuable lessons; what discipline is and how it looks in his household; sharing his name with his son; the differences in his parenting style versus his parents’; and more.
Alfie Kohn: Happy Kids, Better Relationships (33m)
This episode features an interview of education and parenting researcher, writer, and lecturer Alfie Kohn from 2016 by Neil Sattin of Relationship Alive! When it comes to parenting, rewards and punishments are an easy one-size-fits all approach that lets people go into auto-parenting, but unfortunately does more harm than good. While rewards and punishments may get the short term reactions we are looking for, there is a lot of research and evidence suggesting that this parenting style ultimately damages and holds children back. The alternative is not just the absence of bribes and threats, but an entire complex network of guidelines – the most important being that you let your kids know that you accept them no matter what. With this attitude you can begin to work WITH your child, getting to know their perspective and world, and bring them into decision making. Children learn to make good decisions by making decisions (and learning), rather than learning to follow directions (on making good decisions).
My Upcoming Debate with the Harvard Professor Who Wants a “Presumptive Ban” on Homeschooling
When I told my 13-year-old homeschooled daughter that I would be participating in an upcoming debate with the Harvard professor who recommends a “presumptive ban” on homeschooling, she asked incredulously, “Why would anyone want to prevent people from homeschooling?”
On Parenting
An insight I had recently is on who we are raising as parents. We are not raising children, rather, we are raising adults. Childhood is a very small part of life for us. It only constitutes the first 15 years, or so. The importance of this insight, that we are raising adults, is a reminder that how we engage with our children and the behavior we model will determine the type of adults that they will become.
Robin Grille: Parenting for a Peaceful World (1h28m)
This episode features a talk by psychologist Robin Grille from 2015. Robin invites you on a journey that begins with the surprising and often shocking history and evolution of parenting. With the aid of recent revolutionary discoveries about early childhood development and the human brain, the history of childhood offers vital clues about the roots of human violence and social disharmony.
Nicholas Hooton: Agorist Living (11m)
This episode features an audio essay written by Nicholas Hooton in 2012, which comprises Chapter 16 of Everything Voluntary: From Politics to Parenting, edited by Skyler J. Collins and published in 2012.
Martha Pieper: How to Give Your Child a Foundation of Inner Happiness (36m)
This episode features an interview of author and psychotherapist Martha Heineman Pieper from 2017 by Laura Markham of Aha! Parenting. They discuss dealing with children in a way that make both parent and child, and their relationship, much better off.