Anna Brown joins me this week to dive into the topic, Kids Are Capable. It’s a foundational principle of unschooling, and seems simple enough, but it’s about so much more than meets the eye!

Questions for Anna

Choice is a great lens through which to start looking at the idea that ‘kids are capable.’ Paying attention to the choices our children are making helps us become more aware of who our children are—the things they like and dislike, their strengths and challenges, their personality style, their learning style, and so on. And from there, we better see the many things they are capable of doing, don’t we?

We also want to be careful not to fall into the “independence agenda” trap. I know that’s something near and dear to your heart, so can you explain what you mean by that?

So often we see things as black and white: yes or no, they do ‘the thing’ or we do ‘the thing.’ But there’s a whole world to explore between those two ends of the spectrum, isn’t there? You called it the “meaty middle” and I love that!

We soon discover that the idea of ‘kids are capable’ is not only about “doing” things, is it? It’s also so much about their self-awareness, that they are capable of knowing what they want and what doesn’t feel good.

Peeling back another layer, holding space for our children to make choices on their timetable and in the directions they are drawn to, while also being involved and engaged so we can help and support them, is the fertile soil in which trust grows, isn’t it?

And now we’re getting to the REAL magic of unschooling. When our children feel seen and heard for who they are, when they see that we trust them to make choices and follow their joy, their trust in themselves grows—they feel empowered and capable. How great is that?

Things mentioned in the episode

Check out the Living Joyfully Network

Transcript

Read the transcript

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