bookwood01

Hi... well, I wound up having more time on my hands then I planned
on for the computer today. I have to tell you guys, if you do have
your children take that video game design course through The
Learning Community Group... it takes forever to load the lessons if
you're dial up! My son is outside with his buddy waiting for the
lesson to load! It takes a whole hour. So... if you have DSL, it
will run a lot faster until they change their program. Poor kid gets
so frustrated with it.

To address taking things personally... Sorry if it sounds that way.
I tend to write that way and I don't mean to cause any distress by
it. I write from my vantage point and sometimes I have difficulty
writing to a group in a more general tone. Sorry about that. I have
to work on getting out the kinks. But honestly, I wasn't taking
things personally, just passionately. Do you know what I mean? Sorry
if it came out otherwise.

Also, I have trouble writing in between the paragraphs of the post.
Someone from the list contacted me saying it was difficult reading
my posts because the markings were not clear in which were mine and
that of others, I believe that is what she meant. I'm going to try
to write between paragraphs, I hope it works. Cross your fingers.


Glad things went well for you, Susan - or at least that you didn't
have
to stay overnight.

***Thanks. Lots of pokes and prods. I hate that... but at least I'm
home.


I want to suggest to you that you take another deep breath (I'm sure
you've taken a few already <g>) and be really careful to not take
anything said here in a personal way. You're NOT debating about
whether
YOU are doing the right thing - nobody knows you, your life, your
personality, your family, your style, etc. The debates are all about
ideas - the "idea" of restricting television, the idea of an adult
and
a child making a joint decision to limit something, the idea of "not
teaching," and so on.

The end of a discussion here can easily be - "Well, this was a good
discussion and I think I have a better understanding of what others
think about this." Or it could be, "This has helped me gain a deeper
understanding of my own reasons for my decision."

The end result of a discussion here does not need to be: "Ah, you're
right and I'm going to change my ways."

*** Yes, I do realize this. I think that the debates are very
cathartic. They do help me see things from different angles and to
really think about what other folks have said. I think they are
thought provoking and electric. And yes, I do have gained
understanding in what other folks think about this topic.



The goal is analytical - it is to dig down deep into the ideas we
hold
and think about the basis of those ideas.

It truly isn't really to persuade you to change your mind as much as
it
is to provide a forum where you can, if you desire, stretch and open
and try on thinking things in ways you haven't done.

Sandra used to have a talk she gave in which she told people they
should spend some time thinking dangerous thoughts. Think about
things
in ways you don't usually. Let yourself be willing to think
anything -
don't push any thought away, follow it, no matter what. She used to
say
if it was too scary, that you could duct tape yourself to a chair and
get somebody to act as a spotter - I really liked that image. But,
really, just thinking dangerous thoughts isn't dangerous - you can
think them and go on with life as is - you don't have to act on them.


***I agree. Sometimes it is very frightening and I think that's why
I like this group so much... because it pushes that in me. It does
cause some uncomfortableness that is needed for change. It's the
beginning of growth. I was in a class that taught this through a
church I was in a few years back. They would bring up "hot topics"
and everyone would get into these discussions. Man, did the heat
rise in this class. It was amazing. You would think everyone was
just each other's enemies because we'd all get so far into it it
seemed as if everyone was ticked off at each other. When it was
done, we would talk, go out for a bite to eat, laugh and go home. A
lot of times, we never knew what the other person had learned or
thought about the group in the end... but one thing was for certain,
we all grew a little.


This is a list for pushing ourselves to think dangerous thoughts -
and
it can be uncomfortable and scary and the WORST is when somebody
really
doesn't want to, but they find themselves here being pushed to do it.

Back then, I sat down with the purpose of just thinking dangerous
thoughts for a while. I mean, I actually took time and sat in a chair
just to sort of make myself think. For me, thinking dangerous
thoughts
worked like this: I'd think, "Well, what if it is true that tv is
addicting and if I don't control them they'll be addicted and they'll
be couch potatoes and they'll all get fat and lazy and will be
depressed with no friends and never find a spouse and not get married
and I'll have no grandchildren."

Or - "Well, what if tv is addicting and I control it and they don't
learn to control it themselves and then when they grow up and have
their own place they get a tv and they just sit and watch all the
time
and don't study for their college classes and can't graduate and
they're stuck in lousy jobs that they hate and they're miserable and
they blame me."

These are the kinds of trains of thought that I let myself think -
kind
of had to make myself think - because I naturally tended to think in
mind-ruts - my mind just would go where it had always gone before -
so
I had to make myself take different turns and see where those went.

So - here on this list - we're doing it together - in writing - with
1600+ strangers watching. Gosh, does this make anybody nervous? It is
sort of the amazing power of the internet that we can exchange ideas
in
such a public way and yet keep our privacy at the same time. Cool for
some. Too freaky for others.


***And how do you balance that? The public/private? Too little
information doesn't let people know what is going on behind your
thinking... too much information may be deemed to personal or too
dangerous in revealing who you are. How do you balance that? How do
you take those steps to secure yourself and yet enter into contact
with others that contains meaningful conversation?

That is something I'd be interested in learning... how do you all
balance that out?

Peace and Good Will ;-)

Susan (The lady who don't know when to quit!) LOL
-pam