I doubt if there has ever been any human culture, anywhere, at any time, that underestimates children’s abilities more than we North Americans do today. Our underestimation becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy, because, by depriving children of freedom, we deprive them of the opportunities they need to learn how to take control of their own behavior and emotions.
Tag: trust
Why Anarchy?
In the few years since deciding the label “anarchist” most accurately represented my own political philosophy, I’ve learned of other, powerful, confirmatory and congruent philosophies as well, that have helped to grow my own anarchism further outside the political realm. In other words, I may have started as a political anarchist, but ultimately, my own brand of anarchy has stretched beyond solely politics.
The Case Against Time-out
For generations, parents have sought a reliable and dependable way to handle childhood misbehavior. The most recent and popular discipline technique is time-out. Although time-out is better than spanking, it is not an appropriate way for parents to cope with the misbehavior of their children. Moreover, the use of time-out can create subsequent childhood behavior problems. These problems can affect the well-being of the child and severely strain the parent-child relationship.
The Case for a Voluntary Society
For those of you who think that Anarchy is just an idealistic notion, ask yourself is the more realistic one really a system that is funded through coercion and whose policies are formulated by a select few and whose compliance is mandated under threat of violence? Is this not the incredibly idealistic and I would argue irrational and evil notion? Please, I only ask at the very least not that you agree, but that you instead refrain from supporting the use of violence to forcibly impose your will on me. I promise I will pay you the same respect.
What Does a Punishment-Free Home Look Like?
I’m always a little surprised when people are horrified to hear I don’t punish my children. “How will they learn right from wrong?” is usually the first question, and I can see them picturing a household run by unruly hellions jumping on furniture and swinging from the ceiling fans. It’s not that we don’t have those moments (maybe not quite that extreme) — but as much as I want punishment-free to mean always calm, always peaceful, and rules always followed, that isn’t the truth either.
The Drug Named “Control”
Drugs laws in general are predicated on the assumption that though drug consumption is an individual behavior, the effects of that consumption, especially in the aggregate, are a net negative to society. Laws punishing the production, distribution, and use of drugs are therefore an attempt to prevent individuals from causing harm to society as a whole. In pursuing such policies, the government which seeks to discourage drug use in fact encourages the abuse of and addiction to the one drug it loves and will never outlaw: control.
“Spanking” Children Is Domestic Violence
While the average American would look at you like you were crazy if you said it was okay for a man to hit his wife if she didn’t obey him, that same person would likely argue that hitting – or “spanking” – children is not only acceptable, but advisable for producing “well-behaved, functioning” members of society.
This not only defies logic, it defies science.
From Waldorf to Unschooling
My husband and I have been Unschooling our daughter (age fifteen) and son (age nine) for nearly seven years. I’m a former Steiner Waldorf Class teacher turned Unschooling Mum, as well as an artist and blogger. We are very blessed that my husband works freelance and is a very hands on dad. He’s a filmmaker, editor and all round computer genius which is very useful for our children, who have a keen interested in creative technology.
The Magic Trick of Authority
If you approach a magic trick from the assumption that there is no magic, then your perspective of the trick changes and more often than not the deception becomes readily obvious. Rather than being a mystical art of unknown power, it becomes a puzzle to be solved, and you begin to see the misleading movements and the subtle slight of hand that compose the trick, rather than only the finishing prestige designed to leave you in wonder. The same applies to the idea of the state.
Government: Always a Bad Deal
When the average, well-trained statist says, “I’m proud to pay my taxes, because I like to have roads!” they are demonstrating not only a serious degree of Stockholm Syndrome (it’s pretty stupid to be “proud” of being forced to buy a product, even if the product is good), but they are also demonstrating profound economic ignorance.