Sandra Dodd

This is the anniversary of the creation of this page:

http://sandradodd.com/inspiration

At a couple of conferences in those days (2013) I did workshops in which each participant ws asked to name a person, or to tell a story (if they didn’t know the person’s name) about something that was said or done that changed the trajectory of their parenting knowledge and practice.

The stories are touching and sweet. You probably have one, too. If you want to share it here, I think it will be read gratefully! Credit those who helped you grow, even if it was a teacher in school, or a relative whose voice is in your head in ways that aren’t always positive.

Sandra

jodyxx

For me it was my 2nd Foster Mum. 
I was treated by her and my Foster Dad as a precious child. 
I felt safe, and secure. I knew where I stood and there were no arbitrary rules to follow. 
I knew then that I wanted to be a housewife and Mother and to make my children feel safe, secure and loved.

I also read Steve and Shaaron Biddulph Mother and baby book when I was pregnant with my first - it gave me permission to just cuddle my baby.

Kind regards, 

Jody Hughes 



Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

-------- Original message --------
From: "Sandra Dodd Sandra@... [AlwaysLearning]" <[email protected]>
Date: 07/05/2019 17:43 (GMT+00:00)
To: Always Learning <[email protected]>
Subject: [AlwaysLearning] Who helped you "get" unschooling?

 

This is the anniversary of the creation of this page:

http://sandradodd.com/inspiration

At a couple of conferences in those days (2013) I did workshops in which each participant ws asked to name a person, or to tell a story (if they didn’t know the person’s name) about something that was said or done that changed the trajectory of their parenting knowledge and practice..

The stories are touching and sweet. You probably have one, too. If you want to share it here, I think it will be read gratefully! Credit those who helped you grow, even if it was a teacher in school, or a relative whose voice is in your head in ways that aren’t always positive.

Sandra


Jo Isaac

I went to the link, to see if my story was already there (didn't want to repeat it, if it was!) but I can't go to the page - seems the link is wrong? It's comes up with 'oooops' and the page doesn't exist (sandradodd.com/inspiration).

Jo




From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Sandra Dodd Sandra@... [AlwaysLearning] <[email protected]>
Sent: 08 May 2019 02:43
To: Always Learning
Subject: [AlwaysLearning] Who helped you "get" unschooling?
 
 

This is the anniversary of the creation of this page:

http://sandradodd.com/inspiration

At a couple of conferences in those days (2013) I did workshops in which each participant ws asked to name a person, or to tell a story (if they didn’t know the person’s name) about something that was said or done that changed the trajectory of their parenting knowledge and practice..

The stories are touching and sweet. You probably have one, too. If you want to share it here, I think it will be read gratefully! Credit those who helped you grow, even if it was a teacher in school, or a relative whose voice is in your head in ways that aren’t always positive.

Sandra


wildwestsky@...

When Sky was 4, he was in daycare. It was NOT a rich learning environment! I found a wonderful, part-time, parent co-op preschool that focused on play and emotional intelligence. It was a few hours a morning, a few times a week. The teachers there had teen children themselves, and each had more than a decade of experience in this particular school. Sky joined late in the year, October I think. We had our first parent-teacher conference in December or January. 

At the meeting, the teacher gave me a helpful review -- her input of Sky's development as someone who was really trying to see *him* and get to know him as a person. She asked at the end if I had any questions. I did. I was desperate to know how to make him stop lying and stealing things that I told him were "mine". My markers, my contact solution, the q-tips in my bathroom, tampons! It seems comical now, to think about how much I was getting in my own way by both being too far away and simultaneously trying to control every detail in our home. 

The teacher smiled patiently, then said carefully, "Every behavior has a function." 

While this moment had nothing to do with unschooling, it was pivotal for my relationship with my child. It gave me the approval from an elder that I needed, to see my role as his mother differently. She gave me permission to stop trying to make him understand me and instead to keep trying to understand him.

When he was a baby, I didn't take any of his behavior personally. I looked for cues, I assumed he knew something that I didn't know and that it was my job to understand. But in toddlerhood, I started to have shame around some of his behaviors. I was so concerned with getting the behaviors to stop -- and stop reflecting poorly on me --  that my priorities got jumbled up. My parenting had become very much a performance for the Gaze of others rather than a path to intimacy and peace with my child. 

The paradigm shift that occurred when I understood her words to me handed my curiosity back to me. With it came trust, that I could follow his lead and we'd be ok. That moment primed me for unschooling. 

Tara Joe Farrell

Sandra@...

-=-I went to the link, to see if my story was already there (didn't want to repeat it, if it was!) but I can't go to the page - seems the link is wrong? It's comes up with 'oooops' and the page doesn't exist (sandradodd.com/inspiration).-=-

It's there but not working. Some server, somewhere at the host company, is having a litle vacation, it seems.  Lots of my pages aren't working. Sorry.