Parenting: Take No Prisoners!*
Somehow, the sacred institution of raising our young has been contorted into a form resembling a prison system:
- Babies behind bars (on cribs and “playpens”);
- Toddlers being sentenced to “time-out”;
- Older children forced to attend schools with little freedom of movement, association, and expression;
- And in school, non-compliant
inmatesstudents are sent tothe hole“detention.”
What’s going on here? In a word: control.
We seem to have forgotten a basic aspect of human nature:
Children learn best by inspiration, not incarceration.
Improve Your Groove
Today, stay attuned to your children’s emotional states, and notice when they seem to feel “incarcerated” (restricted, constrained, disallowed, disempowered, compelled, coerced, etc.).
Look for ways you might help release them from imprisonment — real or imagined. And when you’re tempted to restrict or control them, ask yourself what would inspire them instead.
Wouldn’t you rather be an emancipator than an incarcerator!?
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*Note: The title of this post is a play on words. Please do not kill your children. :)