Kolleen

Hello all,

I'm new to the list here and I found myself becoming a member during a
very spirited time!

What a great group of strongly opinionated familys... of course with the
normal amount of misunderstandings when people with different belief
systems come together.

Although I did already jump right in and respond to something, I'd like
to take the time here to respond to a few issues - in one post.

Of course, that was yesturday that I read the hoards of posts and my
memory for detail left me YEARS ago... heregoes...

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**Spare the rod, spoil the child: this amazes me... a book that has been
translated from ancient tongues, that is full of meanings that are NOT to
be taken literally.. I find it interesting how people will find sources
to back up their beleifs. I do it to when it comes to my beleifs in
attachment parenting, family beds, extended nursing etc.

I do remember reading an interpretation of this quote, and can't remember
the source. I'll make it a point to try and find it soon. The writer felt
that this too wasn't literal and explained what the word 'rod' meant
(knowledge). Of course I don't beleive everything I read, but it was an
interesting outlook on something _I_ feel is brutal.

And yes, I do read the bible once a year, so I am familiar with it.

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**Quantum Physics, snake oil, paradigms and truths: People get very
defensive when their beleif system is questioned, even when presented
with facts (such as thirmisol in vaccinations, pesticides in foods, etc).

This is going to be a no-win conversation since each person needs to
decide for themself which truth works best for them or their family.

I have a sister in quantumn healing (the WHO and the CDC still consult
her monthly) and a niece that oversees research for one of the biggest
drug companys. You can imagine how our holidays go! But we all walk away
with respect for eachother's beliefs. And the ones that are undecided,
get to hear both sides and decide for themselves.


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**Someone mentioned (again, I read a lot of posts!) something about a
'newcomer' to the list speaking their opinion.

_I_ feel this is an unfortunate attitude to have about listservs.

I have been using the internet since the mid 80s. Before the world wide
web and it was only command line interface back then. There was no GUI
and no help boxes and one had to know what they were doing to have a
discussion group. We used proggies like Hermes and ARPAnet for access.
Sometimes, it was dialup across the country just to learn something new
from the people writing the code. It was 99.9% men and there was still
mutual respect for the opinions of others.

As far as I'm concerned, most the world is 'new' to listservs... and its
great that now we have even more people to communicate and share ideas
with. Isn't technology wonderful?

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**Children, chores and unparenting: I can see myself in so many of the
posts. And I can see where a lot of the differences lie.

Yes, children will help as part of the household (here's the trick) when
BOTH the parents have a respect for the house.

If you have a SUPPORTIVE partner, then unschooling will work no matter
what.

If your partner isn't supportive, then you will be a frustrated person
and unschooling might be constant unwinding from the atmosphere.

Its very hard when someone who has a supportive partner to understand why
some people resond with anger and with frustration. They might not know,
or it was too long ago for them to remembe, how hard it is to feel so
isolated in your beleifs when everyone, I mean EVERYONE is pulling on
their life force telling them that they're wrong.

Its also hard for someone without any kind of support network (just one
f2f erson at least!) to see how life flows easily when the support IS
there. This is a difficult mindset to be in, I hope we all have some sort
of patience for the pain involved here.


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If you got this far, I'm quite impressed!


Warm Regards,
Kolleen