"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.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
I am glad you can look back and see yourself as wise. I am sure that comes with time. I am in the stage of knowing what I want to do and trying to do it but feeling like I am not doing it. I wonder what wisdom I will recognized in the future that I have at this juncture of my life. When you were a young mother, did you know how to do unschooling, peaceful parenting etc, or were you learning to go with the flow? Did you have lots of baggage to work through or were you unencumbered?
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