I watched this strange parenting show yesterday and WTF?
There was a TV show on yesterday about unusual parenting choices. I watched and I just got to say...people are a little weird. The next time anyone says anything about John Winchester and his parenting choices, I'm gonna have to refer them to this.
First there was this family who believed in "unschooling". Not home-schooling but unschooling. They did not want their children to have any formal education what so ever. They just played with their kids and figured the kids would learn, kind of like on the job training. There were opportunities to discuss money and math when they went to the store. They took the children to museums and engaged them in hands on activities but that was it. The parents were both college educated, one with a masters degree I believe. When asked how their children would get into college without an education, they said they would cross that bridge when they came to it. They also believed in being complete equals with their children. There was no hierarchy. At all. There was no parental authority. No one made any boundries, no one made any decisions and no one had to "kowtow" to anyone else. When discussing things like hygiene, they stated their daughter loved to bathe and would spend hours in the tub and their son never wanted to bathe. The only thing they would do to encourage him to take a bath was to tell him that he was getting smelly and mommy and daddy didn't like to cuddle with smelly boys.
There was another family that did not believe in diapering their infants. They used teeny tiny underpants on their newborn and practiced. "Elimination Communication" where they watched their babies grimaces and noises and based on that determined when they needed to use the potty. They did not tell me how you got a newborn to use the potty. Did they hold the baby over the toilet? Did they simply wait for the poo to happen and then clean the babies underpants? Which is kind of what you do anyway, I mean, most people don't let their baby sit around in a dirty diaper. I got the impression though that they just knew when the baby would poo and somehow got them to the toilet or changing mat or whatever before it happened. Because they were so well versed in "Elimination Communication" I guess they just figured it out.
I don't know. I just didn't quite get this. *ponders parenting choices*
First there was this family who believed in "unschooling". Not home-schooling but unschooling. They did not want their children to have any formal education what so ever. They just played with their kids and figured the kids would learn, kind of like on the job training. There were opportunities to discuss money and math when they went to the store. They took the children to museums and engaged them in hands on activities but that was it. The parents were both college educated, one with a masters degree I believe. When asked how their children would get into college without an education, they said they would cross that bridge when they came to it. They also believed in being complete equals with their children. There was no hierarchy. At all. There was no parental authority. No one made any boundries, no one made any decisions and no one had to "kowtow" to anyone else. When discussing things like hygiene, they stated their daughter loved to bathe and would spend hours in the tub and their son never wanted to bathe. The only thing they would do to encourage him to take a bath was to tell him that he was getting smelly and mommy and daddy didn't like to cuddle with smelly boys.
There was another family that did not believe in diapering their infants. They used teeny tiny underpants on their newborn and practiced. "Elimination Communication" where they watched their babies grimaces and noises and based on that determined when they needed to use the potty. They did not tell me how you got a newborn to use the potty. Did they hold the baby over the toilet? Did they simply wait for the poo to happen and then clean the babies underpants? Which is kind of what you do anyway, I mean, most people don't let their baby sit around in a dirty diaper. I got the impression though that they just knew when the baby would poo and somehow got them to the toilet or changing mat or whatever before it happened. Because they were so well versed in "Elimination Communication" I guess they just figured it out.
I don't know. I just didn't quite get this. *ponders parenting choices*