photo by Ester Siroky
Showing posts with label dyad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dyad. Show all posts
Sunday, March 29, 2020
A little peace
photo by Ester Siroky
Tuesday, March 24, 2020
Keys to knowledge
With names for things, categories form. Some small furry animals ARE "dog" and others are not. "Not" needs another name.
On naming, a researcher named J. Doug McGlothlin wrote, "A child possesses a natural desire to call an object by its name, and he uses that natural desire to help him learn the language. He receives real joy from just pointing out something and calling it by name. He never thinks it is stupid or silly to say something that others might consider obvious. For him, it is delightful."
photo by Cass Kotrba
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Wednesday, January 15, 2020
Lovable and respectable
Try to be lovable and respectable, whether or not you have a partner or an audience, because it makes you a better person. Try to be trustworthy and dependable.
Being a better person will make you a better parent.
Better is better.
photo by Cally Brown
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Sunday, January 12, 2020
Advice for a newlywed
Don't divide anything "fifty/fifty." Forget that concept. Give what you have. Do all you can do. Give/do 80% when you can, but only measure it vaguely, at a squint, and then forget about it. If you aim for half, there will be resentments. If you aim for 100%, small failures will seem larger than they need to be, so don't do that. You can succeed at "lots" without measuring.
If each of you gives as much as you can, your shared needs will be fulfilled more quickly, more easily, and more often.
Be generous with your patience. Life is long. People change, and more than once.
I wrote that for a young friend getting married, and I quoted it here:
Becoming a Better Partner
photo by Vlad Gurdiga
Thursday, January 2, 2020
Fill yourself up
Generosity makes you generous. Kindness makes you kind. Respecting others, and their ideas and their interests, makes you full of respect—respectful. These are little things that build up quickly.
SandraDodd.com/becoming
photo by Janine Davies
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photo by Janine Davies
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Tuesday, November 26, 2019
Who thinks what?
The parents need to be truly interested in their children as people, not just as symbols or irritants or mistakes or property. They need to care more what their children think than what other adults think, and that is very rare in the world.
I'm glad she saved it.
photo by Elise Lauterbach
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Thursday, November 21, 2019
The cool thing is...
photo by Tessa Onderwater
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Friday, October 4, 2019
Giving
—Jessica Hughes
photo by Roya Dedeaux
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Thursday, September 19, 2019
Grasp relaxation
Where are your feet? Where are your hands?
Can you do something kind or useful with them? Something gentle and generous?
Where are your thoughts?
photo by Ester Siroky
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Sunday, September 8, 2019
Rational responses
There's a very old joke about a man saying "Doctor, doctor, it hurts when I do this," and the doctor replying, "Well don't do that."
When someone comes to a radical unschooling discussion to complain about their children's response to bedtimes or limits or "having to" read, they won't get the help they think they want. They will get advice to stop doing that. People will point out that the parents' actions and expectations are the problem, and the children's responses are rational and maybe inevitable.
(quote from page 38 or 41 of The Big Book of Unschooling)
photo by Sarah Dickinson
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Saturday, August 17, 2019
Hobbies and interests
photo by Ester Siroky
Sunday, August 4, 2019
A better world
If by "change the world" a person means "make the world better," then step #1 must be to decide right then not to make the world worse.
Accidents sometimes make the world worse, and carelessness, and flukes of weather and acts of God. But if a personal decision makes the world worse, then what?
There are different levels of "oops"—didn't know, didn't think, forgot, didn't care, was pisssed off or drunk, was furious and wanted to do damage... What can be undone? What can be atoned for?
The world starts to get better when people stop making it worse, and a person's life starts to get better when he consciously decides to do what is better instead of what is worse in any given moment.Philosophy, or That's what it's all about!
photo by Amanda Maillett
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Accidents sometimes make the world worse, and carelessness, and flukes of weather and acts of God. But if a personal decision makes the world worse, then what?
There are different levels of "oops"—didn't know, didn't think, forgot, didn't care, was pisssed off or drunk, was furious and wanted to do damage... What can be undone? What can be atoned for?
The world starts to get better when people stop making it worse, and a person's life starts to get better when he consciously decides to do what is better instead of what is worse in any given moment.
photo by Amanda Maillett
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Friday, June 7, 2019
Visible joy
Make home a place the child is always safe, secure, loved, and respected. Model empathy, kindness, and take visible joy in good things. Bring more good things into the home for the family to take joy in.
Building an Unschooling Nest
photo by Roya Dedeaux
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—Jessica Hughes
photo by Roya Dedeaux
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Saturday, June 1, 2019
What you do changes you
photo by Amy Milstein
Friday, May 31, 2019
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.
photo by Nicole Kenyon
Thursday, May 30, 2019
Diligently and happily and well
By unschooling diligently and happily and well for a long time, families and people have sometimes been changed.
photo by Roya Dedeaux
Thursday, May 2, 2019
They don't owe me
photo by Jihong Tang
Saturday, April 27, 2019
When others worry
If it is a close family member, relative or friend, try to have compassion and understanding. Look at things from their point of view. Likely they love you and your children and want the very best for them, just like you do. It may help to foster good relations between you, your parents and your children if you assume positive intent and make an effort to share what the kids are up to and interested in.
Something that might help in any case is to explain that –
Periodically we evaluate how things are going.
Nothing is written in stone.
For now, this works for us.
We’ll see how things go.—Laurie Wolfrum
photo by Ester Siroky
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Elevation
Learning to live better with children makes one a better person. Being patient with a child creates more patience. Being kind to a child makes one a kinder person.
Simply put...
photo by Chrissy Florence
photo by Chrissy Florence
Sunday, March 17, 2019
Time Out
Time out, please. I have tried to keep up here as though everything is normal, but I've missed a couple of days, and had more re-runs than usual. Tonight I'm too tired, but will share two things. #1 is this photo of me and baby Kirby Athena, taken by her dad yesterday; and #2, that her only grandpa, who is also my husband, has been in intensive care for two weeks. Today he's better than he has been, but it has not been steady improvement over the two weeks.
I might miss a few more posts in the coming days, or share more of the "greatest hits" or special forgotten posts from the past eight-and-a-half years.
Be happy with your families, please! Be grateful for all good things.
photo by Kirby Dodd, the Elder
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