Thursday, April 11, 2013

Unschooling and Bullying

Let's talk about how raising Josh (8y) and Bug (2y) to know they own their bodies, and to know they aren't to be coerced plays into bullying.

This is going to be difficult for me to type, but the truth hurts. As a former authoritarian parent- spanking, yelling, threatening, inflicting punishments, taking toys away- I was the biggest bully in Josh's life. Me.

If you've been following the page you've probably seen stories where Josh stood up to me and said "No." or "What then?" When I am getting out of line and encroaching on him or his freedom of choice, he calls me out on it. He stands up to me and holds his ground. His hands may be shaking, but he doesn't back down.

If he can stand up like that to me- the one person with a history of violence against him, the one person in his life who has bullied him in the past- he can stand up to anyone.

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