Welcome to our last post on 'preparation' for the week!
Synopsis: Parenting can be such an overwhelming job that it’s easy to lose track of where you stand on some of the more controversial subjects at the playground (What if my kid likes to rough house—isn’t this ok as long as no one gets hurt? And what if my kid just doesn’t feel like sharing?). In this inspiring and enlightening book, Heather Shumaker describes her quest to nail down “the rules” to raising smart, sensitive, and self-sufficient kids. Drawing on her own experiences as the mother of two small children, as well as on the work of child psychologists, pediatricians, educators and so on, in this book Shumaker gets to the heart of the matter on a host of important questions. Hint: many of the rules aren’t what you think they are!
The “rules” in this book focus on the toddler and preschool years—an important time for laying the foundation for competent and compassionate older kids and then adults. Here are a few of the rules:
- It’s OK if it’s not hurting people or property
- Bombs, guns and bad guys allowed.
- Boys can wear tutus.
- Pictures don’t have to be pretty.
- Paint off the paper!
- Sex ed starts in preschool
- Kids don’t have to say “Sorry.”
- Love your kid’s lies.
Review: 'Helicopter' parenting has been in vogue, and while there may have been valid reasons for some of it (ie sexual predators), for the most part, parents stopped letting kids just 'be kids". Kids do not have to all be the same, react in the same way. In our technology driven world, we've taken a lot of the individuality away from kids. Enter this book that basically tells parents to BREATHE.
First, You are the parent, you are not your child's 'friend'- that's what other children are for. It's ok if you discipline them when they hurt others, and disobey rules, and if they say 'I hate you", understand it's a natural reaction to boundaries that should be set. But kids inheritently know where the limits are, it's their nature to push and see where they bend.
Secondly, kids need to be kids. It's amazing how many of us survived our childhoods when you stop to think about the trouble we all got in, hazards we faced without thinking and obstacles we overcame without any thoughts for safety. So why do we shelter our kids so much today? Kids can only become creative when they have FREE undirected play- that means letting them go and PLAY their way!
Thirdly we need to teach out kids to deal with problems. They need to know how to cope. When we constantly praise kids, we set them up for a future requiring it. better to praise for their imagination, creativity and problem solving skills, to help them understand resolution is a great thing.
The author gives you info on each topic, then the reason behind it, the things learned from each renegade rule, how to see the topic as a child does, then offers words and phrases to try to help instill the new rules, and ending with how to handle your new rules in public. i was happy to see alot of how Kiddo's preschool was set up in the book. It may be more structured than the author would like, but the kid were given so much leeway in creativity and free play than any other preschool in the area, so I count it in the plus side of the equation! It is hard to stop and realize how much we push our kids nowadays compared to say even 20 years ago. Are we making happier kids? or more stressed out ones, who only seek refuse in technology and not social situations.
This book delves into those questions and offers valid solutions and ideas. This would be a great book for new parents to start off on the right foot, so to speak. We highly recommend it1
Secondly, kids need to be kids. It's amazing how many of us survived our childhoods when you stop to think about the trouble we all got in, hazards we faced without thinking and obstacles we overcame without any thoughts for safety. So why do we shelter our kids so much today? Kids can only become creative when they have FREE undirected play- that means letting them go and PLAY their way!
Thirdly we need to teach out kids to deal with problems. They need to know how to cope. When we constantly praise kids, we set them up for a future requiring it. better to praise for their imagination, creativity and problem solving skills, to help them understand resolution is a great thing.
The author gives you info on each topic, then the reason behind it, the things learned from each renegade rule, how to see the topic as a child does, then offers words and phrases to try to help instill the new rules, and ending with how to handle your new rules in public. i was happy to see alot of how Kiddo's preschool was set up in the book. It may be more structured than the author would like, but the kid were given so much leeway in creativity and free play than any other preschool in the area, so I count it in the plus side of the equation! It is hard to stop and realize how much we push our kids nowadays compared to say even 20 years ago. Are we making happier kids? or more stressed out ones, who only seek refuse in technology and not social situations.
This book delves into those questions and offers valid solutions and ideas. This would be a great book for new parents to start off on the right foot, so to speak. We highly recommend it1
About the Author: Heather holds a MS degree from the Institute for Environmental Studies at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a BA from Swarthmore College.Heather launched her freelance career thanks to a tubful of worms. Her misadventures in worm composting led to her first paid article in Organic Gardening.In addition to the environment, Heather has expertise and passion for the early childhood years, ages two to six. Heather is a speaker on parenting topics and advocate for free, unstructured play in homes and schools. Heather makes her home in northern Michigan, with her husband, three chickens and two children. Check out her website for more.
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