Sweet and supportive

The parents' job is to create and maintain a rich environment, and to be attentive to the child, and sweet and supportive.

SandraDodd.com/nest.html
photo by Nicole Kenyon

Diligently and happily and well

By unschooling diligently and happily and well for a long time, families and people have sometimes been changed.

SandraDodd.com/change/
photo by Roya Dedeaux

Exploring

"Our role is to walk by their sides as they explore, not let them explore on their own. At times we need to hang back and be quiet so they can have the time and freedom explore something that fascinates them. At times we need to share their enjoyment and be with them (even if it's the umpty gajillionth rerun of Spongebob Squarepants ;-) At times we need to point things out. At times we need to share the things we love. At times we need to take them to places they wouldn't know to explore." —Joyce Fetteroll

SandraDodd.com/joyce/products
photo by Sandra Dodd

Seeing the world anew

Below, above; inside, outside. Objects, people and places look different, and are different, when the viewpoint changes. Adults can never again see the world as a child does, but some can quietly watch a child see things for the first time. With practice, and with wonder, even adults can see the world anew.

SandraDodd.com/angles.html
photo by Roya Dedeaux

Knowing peace

The more local and personal peace there is, the more peace there will be in the world. . . . . If we raise the level of peace our children expect, they will know what peace feels like.

Read what Esther Maria Rest wrote, at http://sandradodd.com/parentingpeacefully.html#esther.
photo by Colleen Prieto

Choose better

Here's an idea that will work with just about every aspect of life: Every time you make a decision, wait until you've thought of two choices and choose the better one.

It seems simple, but I was surprised, when I thought of that way to ratchet the quality of life up, to find how many times I was acting without really thinking.


SandraDodd.com/choices
photo by Sandra Dodd, at the River of Lights, Albuquerque, 2011

Creating history

Remember you don't need a museum to find things your kids will be fascinated by and learn from. You probably have things right in your home that would not only connect to history, but it might be their history. And will be from then on, anyway. Things we have from thrift stores aren't from my family, but for my grandchildren they will be from their family.

Marta Venturini shared that in 2014, from
Your House as a Museum (chat transcript)
and facebook shared it back to both of us this week.
photo by Sandra Dodd