Quote of the Day

"If we treated another adult the way we commonly treat our children, we would be subject to criminal and/or civil action. Imposing one's will on another person is considered a crime in our society. Yet with children, it is actively encouraged. The only conclusion is that children are not seen as persons." - James Kimmel, PhD



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Quote of the Day

"An adolescent does not rebel against his parents. He rebels against their power. If parents would rely less on power and more on non-power methods to influence their children from infancy on, there would be little for children to rebel against when they become adolescents... parents inevitably run out of power, and sooner than they think." - Thomas Gordon




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Quote of the Day

"A child whose life is full of the threat and fear of punishment is locked into babyhood. There is no way for him to grow up, to learn to take responsibility for his life and acts. Most important of all, we should not assume that having to yield to the threat of our superior force is good for the child's character. It is never good for anyone's character."

- John Holt



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Quote of the Day

You are worried about seeing him spend his early years in doing nothing. What! Is it nothing to be happy? Nothing to skip, play, and run around all day long? Never in his life will he be so busy again. ~~Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, 1762




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Quote of the Day

"To anxious young women, I want to say what I wish more older women had said to my generation: Relax, enjoy the journey and do not worry about the future. There are no wicked witches. It is all good. Really, really good." -- Naomi Wolf



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Quote of the Day

"Anytime that, without being invited, without being asked, we try to teach somebody else something, anytime we do that, we convey to that person, whether we know it or not, a double message. The first part of the message is: I am teaching you something important, but you're not smart enough to see how important it is. Unless I teach it to you, you'd probably never bother to find out. The second message that uninvited teaching conveys to the other person is: What I'm teaching you is so difficult that, if I didn't teach it to you, you couldn't learn it.
This double message of distrust and contempt is very clearly understood by children, because they are extremely good at receiving emotional messages. It makes them furious. And why shouldn't it?" --John Holt, "Learning All the Time"

I found this little gem highlighted in green marker from the copy I've had since the year my eldest was born, 19 years ago. I tip my hat today to the young mother I was then, that even then I knew this to be true.




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Quote of the Day

"If there is one thought that will help you understand unschooling and respectful parenting it is this: The primary goal is joyful living. All other goals are secondary." ~ Joyce Fetteroll



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Quote of the Day

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go and do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive."
- Howard Thurman



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Quote of the Day

"There is no difference between living and learning... it is impossible and misleading and harmful to think of them as being separate.” ~ John Holt



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Quote of the Day

"In the end, the secret to learning is so simple: Think only about whatever you love. Follow it, do it, dream about it... and it will hit you: learning was there all the time, happening by itself." --Grace Llewellyn




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Quote of the Day

“So many people have said to me, ‘If we didn’t make children do things, they wouldn’t do anything.’ Even worse, they say, ‘If I weren’t made to do things, I wouldn’t do anything.’ It is the creed of a slave. When people say that terrible thing about themselves, I say, ‘You may believe that, but I don’t believe it. You didn’t feel that way about yourself when you were little. Who taught you to feel that way?’ To a large degree, it was school.” ~John Holt




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Good-bye STUFF

This is what my living room looks like right now...

Most of this stuff, plus the 4 garbage bags you can't see to the left, are going away. This is AFTER an enormous garage sale two weekends ago. That means there's progress, right?

It is amazing to me how much STUFF a family of five can accumulate.

Since we've started paring down for the trip, I have been hyper-aware of the pervasive marketing of crap by every store, every commercial, every sign...I mean, yeah, I'm normally a pretty aware person. But wow. We are supposed to buy new tablecloths for the Fourth of July, did you know? And special drink holders. And wouldn't it be nice if we had a new this or that this year, this season, this week...it's all making me feel a bit claustrophobic when I go into a store.

We plan to get rid of most of our stuff, and put the rest in a small storage unit. I take my parents as a cautionary tale: they have had an entire household in a storage unit for very nearly 20 years now, making monthly payments on it ever since. I am sure we can find better things to do with our money in Thailand than spend it on keeping stuff here in the states that we're not using.

So, GOOD-BYE, STUFF! I will not miss you when you're gone, although sometimes I think I will. I am happily divorcing you. We can visit cordially, but I'm not taking you home with me again.

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Location:Bellingham, WA

Saying goodbye...

Yesterday we had a belated third birthday party for Miranda at the zoo in Seattle so we could say goodbye to both sides of extended family.



Me with my parents....

It was a sunny, warm day, something we have not had enough of lately, and it was great fun to relax and chat with brothers and sisters and numerous cousins...




Otto and grandma...



Miranda with Uncle Paul....



Silly cousins....

So, if we don't see you again before we leave, family and friends, know that you are loved and we will be thinking of you while exploring Asia!

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Location:Seattle, WA

Blogging via iPad....really?

Well....editing previous posts looks evil from this app....I'm going to try to post something new so I can see how THAT works. Please ignore my mess!


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