Two new quotes added to "support"
Sandra Dodd
These two new quotes have been added to my "support" collection.
"Only you and your family know what is best for you."
"Please know that you are not alone, that you are an excellent, caring mom and you doing your very best!"
The problem with message like this, in public, from a distant stranger, based on one post, is that they encourage complacency and acceptance of "whatever."
If "whatever" is as good a way to parent as ever has been, if all parenting is equally valid, and caring, and excellent, and if no matter how badly someone is doing she should take comfort that there are others doing that too, then there's no reason on earth for there EVER to have been any books or discussions on parenting or children's feelings or what might help in ANY situation.
Some people are not doing their best. Many people want to do better, and some of them come to unschooling discussions for ideas. Telling them anything even vaguely like "I wouldn't change a thing" without ever having seen or even read about their family dynamics is not helpful.
http://sandradodd.com/support
I'll repair the spelling/grammar error on that second quote. I had added a letter in the first one.
Someone on this list made a joke (not a funny one) about saying something positive first so she could go on to the body of her post after having blown sunshine up our butts (not worded exactly that way). I think the best thing (on this list, definitely) is to say positive things because one felt them, and they would do some good, not for purposes of humor or manipulation.
Words can have power. Writing without consciously deciding what to write is writing thoughtlessly. Speaking without consciously deciding what to say is speaking thoughtlessly.
Sandra
"Only you and your family know what is best for you."
"Please know that you are not alone, that you are an excellent, caring mom and you doing your very best!"
The problem with message like this, in public, from a distant stranger, based on one post, is that they encourage complacency and acceptance of "whatever."
If "whatever" is as good a way to parent as ever has been, if all parenting is equally valid, and caring, and excellent, and if no matter how badly someone is doing she should take comfort that there are others doing that too, then there's no reason on earth for there EVER to have been any books or discussions on parenting or children's feelings or what might help in ANY situation.
Some people are not doing their best. Many people want to do better, and some of them come to unschooling discussions for ideas. Telling them anything even vaguely like "I wouldn't change a thing" without ever having seen or even read about their family dynamics is not helpful.
http://sandradodd.com/support
I'll repair the spelling/grammar error on that second quote. I had added a letter in the first one.
Someone on this list made a joke (not a funny one) about saying something positive first so she could go on to the body of her post after having blown sunshine up our butts (not worded exactly that way). I think the best thing (on this list, definitely) is to say positive things because one felt them, and they would do some good, not for purposes of humor or manipulation.
Words can have power. Writing without consciously deciding what to write is writing thoughtlessly. Speaking without consciously deciding what to say is speaking thoughtlessly.
Sandra