Sarah

Hi Johanna,

Here's a brief introduction to TCS theory:

TCS - Taking Children Seriously
NCP - Non Coercive Parenting
CPP - Common Preference Parenting

These are the terms (and their acronyms) that I have seen used to
describe
the same philosophy.

TCSBabiesToddlers intro (yahoogroups):

TCS (Taking Children Seriously) is an educational philosophy and a
way of life in which both parents and children take one another
seriously by finding/creating real solutions to problems --
solutions everyone involved prefers -- rather than imposing their
will on one another.

Common-Preference-Parenting intro (yahoogroups):

The Common-Preference-Parenting community is a forum for anyone who

believes that children should be raised through reason and
compassion rather than force or control. In an effort to avoid
coercing our children (and ourselves), we strive to find and/or
create "common preferences": solutions to problems that *all*
parties prefer and are completely happy with.

>From the TCS website:

TCS is a theory about what to do in the face of conflict. Building
family relationships based entirely on consent, rather than
coercion, seems to us to be the only approach that offers a
solution to the problem of conventional coercive child-rearing. The

problem? People get hurt. As a result of this hurt people are
unable or less able to solve problems in their lives. The idea of
people hurting each other is, according to conventional wisdom,
part of everyday life. But we think it is caused by people devoting

their ingenuity to hurting each other and thwarting one other's
attempts to solve anything. TCS non-coercive educational theory is
a way of addressing such problems wholesale, by setting up a
different framework in which they can be solved more easily.

...TCS represents a profound criticism of prevailing theories

of education and parenting, and provides a positive alternative.

...TCS is characterized by a style of decision making that
bypasses coercion in favour of finding common preferences
(unanimous consent). With the TCS approach, children spend their
childhoods without anyone making them do things against their will
or anyone doing things to them against their will.

TCS rejects the “discipline is an expression of love” dogma
that permeates conventional coercive parenting. Feeling love for
another person does not confer the right to act towards them in a
way that would be wrong if you did not love them. Love is no
justification for tyranny.

TCS also provides the theory behind the practice that allows
parents to persevere in the face of difficult situations where they

would otherwise be tempted to choose coercion.

Check out these websites:
The Taking Children Seriously website
http://www.eeng.dcu.ie/~tcs/index.html

Gentle Spirit NCP forum
http://www.gentlespirit.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=list&forum=Protected

The TCS discussion at unschooling.com (this is an interesting debate.)
http://www.unschooling.com/discus/messages/84/1299.html?MondayFebruary2620011226am

Sarah Anderson-Thimmes

Johanna wrote:

> As we used to say "question authority" Heck, question everything. My
> favorite way to learn! By the way, what is TCS theory?