![]() | "As I've gotten older, I focus more and more on kindness. I want to be kind, I want my children to be kind and I want them to be in a world that is kinder." —Jenny Cyphers |
photo by Sarah Elizabeth Douglas
![]() | "As I've gotten older, I focus more and more on kindness. I want to be kind, I want my children to be kind and I want them to be in a world that is kinder." —Jenny Cyphers |
![]() | Kids have their whole childhoods to learn to tie shoes, wipe ass, make a sandwich. Parents do NOT have that whole childhood to slowly mosey over toward being a little closer to unschooling. If you don't do it soon and well, it will be too late to do it at all. photo by Ester Siroky |
![]() | Still: quiet, calm; without motion, at rest, not moving from a place, not disturbed; moving little or gently; silent; not loud; secret; unchanging, undisturbed, stable, fixed; not vehement, gentle "Still" has meant those things for a thousand years. Longer. Still. Be with your child, still. |
"This is better. It’s just better." —Jen Keefe
|
![]() | One interaction at a time. Just make the next interaction a relationship-building one. Don't worry about the one AFTER that, until IT becomes "the next one." —Pam Sorooshian |
![]() | Contented parents are more useful to children and their learning and living than are unhappy parents reciting slogans or rhetoric. |
![]() | Be soft and gentle Helping a child learn to hold a kitten or a puppy isn't always easy, but modeling how to do it gently and softly helps. Parents can remember those factors when touching babies and children, too. Is he comfortable? Is he safe? Someone who can gently handle a puppy, and a baby, might remember those things when dealing with another adult. |
![]() | "Look for ways to be a helpful partner to your kids—you've got the car keys and the money, you can facilitate their exploration of the world." —Deb Rossing |
Life *is* frustrating. Being mindful won't prevent kids from getting frustrated but it will be a huge step in the right direction. Seeing the world from kids' point of view will help you understand why they are reacting to the world as they are. Treat your kids as though they're doing the best they can with the knowledge and skills and understanding of the world they have. And often when they're at their worst, what works best is a hug. —Joyce Fetteroll | ![]() |
Don't anyone be mean to your kids today, please. There will be enough hurt without us adding to it. | ![]() |
![]() | For years I have recommended that new unschoolers stop using the word "teach" and replace all statements and thoughts with phrases using the word "learn" instead. I've gotten much flak back from people saying it doesn't matter, or that's "just semantics." What started as a theory with me became belief and then conviction. Unschoolers who cling to the idea of teaching will handicap their own understanding of how learning works. |
![]() |
If your purpose is just to be with your child, and relaxed, and have a chance to talk, go with something that's non-verbal and takes a long, quiet time. | ![]() |
The same image, or toy, or building can be seen in many different ways. For a toddler, this could be a triangle, with a circle, and a rectangle. It might remind an older child of stories of magic houses, or of mysteries and adventures. Young adults' thoughts could be all about traditional construction, history, or "Is this for rent?" Angles are more than just mathematical or visual things. | ![]() |
![]() | Neediness expresses itself differently with different kids. Abundance expresses itself similarly in all. A family can learn to find abundance rather than lack, even if they're not wealthy. |
My children are about as free as they're going to get, honestly. Always have been. Yet there are all these real-life limitations and considerations. They're free to ignore them. And the state of New Mexico (county of Bernalillo and City of Albuquerque) are not only free, but OBLIGATED, to protect other residents from any over-reaching acts of wild "freedom." |
![]() | Touch someone, or something, in a gentle, thoughtful way. Feel with your fingers, or cheek, or hand the warmth or smoothness or softness of something or someone you love. |
![]() | "Focus on Joy. Really. That's all I need to do right now. It's vacation time in my home...bring on the Joy." —Angela (NYCitymomx3) |
We can view children's needs as inconvenient for us or we can view them as people who need our help doing what they want to do. . . . . We can be our kids partner in helping them get what they want in life or we can be the barrier that opens or closes according to our whim. —Joyce Fetteroll |
Life is richer when you are open to appreciating surprises. | ![]() |
Talking about your own frustrations and talking through your own "mistakes," etc, in a light way—not *to* him, but around him, where he can hear you—might be helpful. I did a lot of: "Ooops! I meant to cut the carrots length-wise instead of into circles. No big deal..." or "Hmmmm, I think next time, I'll do X first instead of Y" or whatever—talk to yourself, to your friends, to your partner about how you learn by doing. Short, light observations. No long drawn out monologues. —Brie Jontry |
Shadows can be fun to play with, and to notice. I've always liked it if a bird or an airplane made a shadow on me. Be a light, when you can be. Practice thinking about what you might be overshadowing. If you're in the desert, remember that it can be courteous to stand where you will shade someone who's tired or overheated, or is trying to read something. Be a courteous light. | ![]() |
![]() |
Unschooling takes more, more presence, more guidance, more attention, more mindfulness, more connection, more thinking and questioning, more choices and better choices. —Alex Polikowsky |
![]() | Think of something. What's on the other side of that? Remember something. What came before that? Imagine something. What could follow? See something. Remember there is more than you can see. |