saying the right things
The White's
<SNIP> Julie said: Anyway, just wanted to share with someone who wouldn't say "Well, he's 8 for gosh sakes, don't you think he is behind?"
My son will be 9 in a few days and I must confess that on most days we are all very comfortable with our unschooling lifestyle. I never stress over schoolish issues with my kids, well almost never ;-) Anyway, we were at the library the other day and I saw a poster inviting kids to sign up to win something Harry Potter so I asked my son if he wanted to put his name in the hat. I was helping him fill out the slip of paper, which was a brand new experience for him, when I found myself saying something like "we need to work on that" meaning his handwriting and the fact that her forgot and wrote his 9 backwards. Boy was I ashamed of myself.
We (my children and I) have lots of little discussions about acceptance and differences and motivations behind prejudices.....including public schooled kids. I recently told my son that it was okay to "know" things that someone else does not, and it was okay for others to "know" things he does not. Then I acted like a big ass in the library by letting my old public school demons chastise him for something so unimportant. Where did that come from? I fear it may have come from all those inane classes I took when I was being certified as a public school teacher in another lifetime...ACK!!!
So, although I used to think I would never say something like Julie wrote above, now I know that I evidently still have some exorcizing of past demons to do!! And yes, sometimes (tho' thankfully rarely) I hear myself saying things my mother would have said DOUBLE ACK!!!
Cindy in VA (who hopes I'm sharing with someone who also occasionally slips)
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My son will be 9 in a few days and I must confess that on most days we are all very comfortable with our unschooling lifestyle. I never stress over schoolish issues with my kids, well almost never ;-) Anyway, we were at the library the other day and I saw a poster inviting kids to sign up to win something Harry Potter so I asked my son if he wanted to put his name in the hat. I was helping him fill out the slip of paper, which was a brand new experience for him, when I found myself saying something like "we need to work on that" meaning his handwriting and the fact that her forgot and wrote his 9 backwards. Boy was I ashamed of myself.
We (my children and I) have lots of little discussions about acceptance and differences and motivations behind prejudices.....including public schooled kids. I recently told my son that it was okay to "know" things that someone else does not, and it was okay for others to "know" things he does not. Then I acted like a big ass in the library by letting my old public school demons chastise him for something so unimportant. Where did that come from? I fear it may have come from all those inane classes I took when I was being certified as a public school teacher in another lifetime...ACK!!!
So, although I used to think I would never say something like Julie wrote above, now I know that I evidently still have some exorcizing of past demons to do!! And yes, sometimes (tho' thankfully rarely) I hear myself saying things my mother would have said DOUBLE ACK!!!
Cindy in VA (who hopes I'm sharing with someone who also occasionally slips)
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Elizabeth Hill
The White's wrote:
Yeah, I sometimes slip into judgemental mother-teacher-nagger-uplifter
mode myself.
Being ashamed of yourself, instead of your kid, is a big step in the
right direction.
Take care,
Betsy
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> I saw a poster inviting kids to sign up to win something Harry PotterHi, Cindy !
> so I asked my son if he wanted to put his name in the hat. I was
> helping him fill out the slip of paper, which was a brand new
> experience for him, when I found myself saying something like "we need
> to work on that" meaning his handwriting and the fact that her forgot
> and wrote his 9 backwards. Boy was I ashamed of myself.
Yeah, I sometimes slip into judgemental mother-teacher-nagger-uplifter
mode myself.
Being ashamed of yourself, instead of your kid, is a big step in the
right direction.
Take care,
Betsy
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]