Ashley Jefferson of Nguzo Babies joins Annie Friday on today's episode talking all about Kwanzaa. Ashley briefly explains what Kwanzaa is and why you may want to learn more about it. Often times, children's books, toys, and shows can provide windows into the lives of others and mirrors where children can see their own image reflected back. Ms. Ashley has created a whole set of resources to serve as windows and mirrors for children on the topic of Kwanzaa.These resources are centered on play and creativity. This episode is a must-listen for parents coming from all different backgrounds who want to raise culturally aware and competent young people. Learn more about Ms. Ashley through her Early Childhood Enthusiast page or find the Nguzo Babies video channel on YouTube.

Annie Friday is joined by Michelle Zagardo of Food Bodies Families and host of The Body Competence podcast. Michelle is on a mission to raise what she calls "body competent humans." In this episode, Michelle and Annie discuss the concept of food neutrality with young people. Often food gets moralized into binaries like good and bad or healthy and unhealthy. This conversation challenges adults to remain neutral in the presentation of new foods. Allowing young people to explore foods and how it relates to their own body can help them know what foods feel good to them. Through healthy, supportive relationships with caregivers, kids can learn to set their own boundaries with food and nutrition. Along the way, however, it can be activating to the caregivers who have their own views on and experiences with food and eating. Michelle shares about how to navigate this type of exploration, honoring autonomy and independence while also instilling values and family culture to our children through food.

Annie and Candis examine the topic of after-school restraint collapse. They wonder out loud together why we are normalizing this restraint as an essential component of back-to-school season and beyond. Do schools ask too much of young people? Are kids required to hold themselves together in inappropriate ways? What we are asking and expecting of young children is wildly out of line with all the science of human development and neuroscience. How can we all be better advocates for our kids in our homes and classrooms?

Latoya Nelson returns to talk to Annie about her perspective as an educator freshly leaving the conventional school system behind. Latoya shares more about what the back-to-school season looks like in her homeschool community learning space. Focused on relationships and needs first has reshaped the whole game of school and education for Latoya. Latoya's learning community, The Attuned Community, is reshaping childhood for all in attendance. It's a unique program centering unschooling and self-directed education in a community way. For Latoya, tending to the emotional needs of the community takes precedent over any kind of learning goal or objective.

Carol Kohl joins Annie this week to talk about the madness of back-to-school season from the perspective of an unschooling homeschool parent. As a former educator, Carol has a unique perspective on how this season affects those who aren't in conventional school systems. Schoolishness and the systems of schooling are so embedded within our society that this time of year there is a pervasive aspect that creeps into even the lives of unschoolers and those engaged in self-directed education. This is part 2 in a 3-part series on this time of year from the perspective of those out of line with the mainstream systems.

Annie Friday is joined by Renee, an unschooling mom whose child is starting his second year back in conventional school. Renee talks about the busy rush, new milestones, and complicated feelings that come up with this return to school. We laugh about the silly school objectives and supposed child-set goals that don't exactly feel like they were set by a young person. Renee also wonders aloud about what it takes for her child's class to lose their Fun Fridays and other rewards-based systems used to manipulate children's behavior in school settings. This is part one in a three-part series on the back-to-school season from various angles of self-directed education.

On this episode of Out of Line, Amanda Diekman joins Annie Friday and Candis Ogilvie to talk about living in a low demand household. Amanda's new book Low Demand Parenting: Dropping Demands, Restoring Calm, and Finding Connection with Your Uniquely Wired Child came out this summer. It was an autism burnout, a term new to their family, that finally set them on a path toward this low-demand lifestyle that worked for them. With new diagnosis of neurodivergency in multiple family members, Amanda and family could reflect on each member's individual needs for flourishing. Redefining their family dynamics has given them new freedom, peace, and belonging. If you feel like you can't see yourself or your family in the conventional parenting books, Amanda's story may resonate. This is a good listen for anyone with pathological demand avoidance, autism, ADHD, or anyone feeling stuck in a cycle of push-pull parenting dependent on power dynamics and adultism.

Joining Annie Friday this week are Sifu Terrell of Lion Martial Arts Academy and Latoya Nelson of the Attuned Learning Community School. Annie, Terrell and Latoya discuss why children deserve to experience a soft life and in particular why it's even more critical that Black children are able to enjoy a soft life. There are lots of different terms for the more supportive approach to parenting that centers relationship - gentle parenting, conscious parenting, partnership parenting, etc. However you call it, gentle parenting is not just for children of privilege. Sharing from their own lived personal experiences, they talk about the possibility of turning our homes into a pocket of love for our children. Together they answer the question: Can we find spaces that allow young people in our world to exist without the pressures of the harsh outside world?

Therapist Rachael Koeson joins Annie Friday once again to talk about ways we can support our youth, expecially those who identify as LGBTQ+. Rachael supports families as they navigate the specific challenges that come up in this realm. One pitfall parents and caregivers can stumble into is limiting how children show up in the world. Sometimes parents think by tamping down aspects of their child's identity or personality, they are protecting them from the outside world. Instead, when we try to turn down the volume on young people's identity, they can end up feeling like there's something wrong with them. It can reduce confidence and resiliency in young people to feel like they have to edit who they are to fit the comfort of those around them. The very existence of queer young people can be dependent on finding supportive adults to see them as who they are as they grow and develop. Support for youth and families can come from many different places including The Trevor Project, ACLU, GLSEN, Stand with Trans, the Family Acceptance Project, and the Integrative Empowerment Group. If you'd like to brush up on your vocabulary, find a glossary of terms at the PFLAG LGBTQ+ Glossary. Using books and literature to wade into these topics can be helpful too. Find a list of book recommendations here. Setting aside adult comfort for youth safety is an extremely important aspect of these conversations. Rachael and Annie cover much of these topics in this episode.

Annie and Candis go straight to the source in this episode as they are joined by Bria Bloom, Executive Director of the Alliance for Self-Directed Education. Bria breaks down the term self-directed education, more commonly known as SDE. The conversation covers the nuances of language around this type of alternative education that includes unschooling, independent learning, and sometimes even conventional school life. Together we explore the idea of what life could look like with a completely different attitude toward schooling in this country. Find more information and tons of resources from the Alliance for Self-Directed Education here.