OMG! What an incredible life it is. If I wasn't living this life I wouldn't believe it. IT'S TRUE!! Children are capable. They are curious. They are wise. And they know!
Let us not dumb them down, turn them into zombies, robots and slaves. They deserve the very best and it is our responsibility to make it happen. Now that we know it is possible there are no longer excuses. The time is NOW. Free our own minds, and they will not have to live down to our standards. As a society we have a lot of work to do. As a community at the Garden of Eden, we have a lot of play to engage in. Oh yes!! What a life. So very thankful for the children!
~•••~Beautiful~••~
Thanks for showing up here and for your added beautifulness!!!
Yes!
May it be so!
So grateful for your loving, playful and responsible presence!
Oh yes--seeing it and feeling the magic in it everyday!
The majority of parents around the globe are programmed to believe what the Bible says which is that all children are born evil and the parents' responsibility is to mold them into godly, righteous beings. This is a large part to the credit of child abuse origination and evolution. Spare the rod and spoil the child... The idea that being loving and compassionate towards children will somehow create weak people.
Your interactions with the children shows that no beating or coercing is necessary for children to be productive, kind and cooperative. As a matter of fact, children can get shit done if grown-ups get the hell out of their way.
These sweet girls accomplished more than some of the grown ups that come through the Garden of Eden, and they were driven not by threats or authority rule, but by genuine passion and inspiration. It's incredible!
That's for sure!!! They set the standard HIGH!!! I dare anyone to stand up to their joyous, inspired, beautiful example.
I am a christian, and I LOVE the way that these Garden of Eden children are being raised. While we are born into a sinful world, we are not born evil. The true definition of Discipline is to Disciple, meaning the children follow our example. Jesus never beat on or punished his disciples, they learned from his example and teaching. Sadly many people interpret discipline as the same thing as punishment.
The verses in mostly the Old Testament about the "rod" are misunderstood in our culture. The rod is a shepherd's hook that protects the sheep and beats the wolves away if need be. "Thy Rod and thy Staff, They Comfort Me." Jewish culture clearly understands and teach that the rod was never used to beat children and never should be used that way. Somehow christians in our culture haven't understood the original context of those passages.
My 3 children are unschooled and we use Gentle Parenting, and it aligns with how children were often raised in bible days.
Thank you for your comment. I unschooled my children who are now in their mid and late twenties--a true blessing of life changing awareness. Once I realized that my children were absolutely fine and it was me that had the conditioning, biases, fears and dysfunctions, I could take responsibility for myself, move out of their way, and let them shine!!
I don't really believe in disciplining or punishment, as if we live by the Golden Rule we will respect and honor each other and not have desire to do harm, hence no need for discipline. True communication, listening, understanding, and facing our inner demons make children's lives so much more rich. Addressing our own darkness, so they can shine the light of pure potential. I'm sure your children are blessed by your taking the leap to unschool them. A truly powerful move. Way to go!!!
Thank you for your response! We are so excited to start a conversation on parenting. All the old paradigm's problems begin with parenting, thus all problems can be solved with new paradigm parenting solutions. Our children are living solutions!
There's a lot of misinterpretation surrounding religions, #1 because they are control structures and #2 because there have been countless translations and edits through the ages and the original message is warped to support the control structure. We find it disgusting that any would accept or encourage abusing a pure, innocent, shining child, but without consciousness the message spreads that children are reared by breaking them and beating them into submission. We're grateful to hear that you disagree with child abuse despite what may be a "popular" or at least "accepted" interpretation of the Bible, and that you're willing to speak against it.
it is unacceptable to our standards, and that's what we point out. Unfortunately, many children are blatantly abused on a daily basis, but there are subtle forms of abuse as well that are seen as "normal" and "acceptable" in this society. Forcing a child to attend school - making them devote hours of their day to a place and projects they really don't care about - teaches them to be subservient, teaches them that their passions are not as important as what someone else tells them to do.
Not only do we not beat our children (which is a disgustingly low standard that passes for "good" parenting to many), we honor and respect them. We encourage them to do what interests them, we support them in their play and growth and development! They live freedom.
Truly they are our teachers.
I agree about forcing a child to attend school. I just wrote a post 2 days ago when most kids were back-to-school for the first time, entitled "Happy-Not-Back-To-School Day". In it I explained how especially for my eldest son school would be "Developmentally Inappropriate" given his learning style and personality.
I wish more parents were open to letting their children learn in a manner more suitable manner.
Dysfunction runs deep in our society, no matter where it comes from. There are people all over the world who are not Christians but who still treat their children as lesser beings. When we begin to realize the level of abuse--emotional trauma, coercion and manipulation--not intentionally, but just doing what was done to us, we can then make change. We must first be able to recognize the error of our ways to start anew. True honor is the key.