We do not have to get our children to learn; only to allow and encourage them in their learning. We do not have to dictate what th...ey should learn; only to discern and respond to what it is that they are learning. Such responsiveness is at once the most educational and the most loving.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
We cannot spare our children the influence of harmful values by turning off the television any more than we can keep them home for...ever or revamp the world before they get there. Merely keeping them in the dark is no protection and, in fact, can make them vulnerable and immature.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Especially with our first child, we tend to take too much responsibility--both credit and blame--for everything. The more we want ...to be good parents, the more we tend to see ourselves as making or breaking our children.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
With all of its bad influences, T.V. is not to be feared.... It can be a fairly safe laboratory for confronting, seeing through, a...nd thus being immunized against unhealthy values so as to be "in the world but not of it."LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Once we begin to appreciate that the apparent destructiveness of the toddler in taking apart a flower or knocking down sand castle...s is in fact a constructive effort to understand unity, we are able to revise our view of the situation, moving from reprimand and prohibition to the intelligent channeling of his efforts and the fostering of discovery.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
If we view our children as stupid, naughty, disturbed, or guilty of their misdeeds, they will learn to behold themselves as foolis...h, faulty, or shameful specimens of humanity. They will regard us as judges from whom they wish to hide, and they will interpret everything we say as further proof of their unworthiness. If we view them as innocent, or at least merely ignorant, they will gain understanding from their experiences, and they will continue to regard us as wise partners.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Parenthood always comes as a shock. Postpartum blues? Postpartum panic is more like it. We set out to have a baby; what we get is ...a total take-over of our lives.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
If we allow our one-and-a-half year old to "help" us fold laundry he will learn something about buttons, zippers, snaps, where thi...ngs go, the physical properties of cloth, what happens when you drop it, how easy or hard it is to carry compared with everything else he has ever carried, what clean clothes smell like, how a big towel can turn into a small bundle, how the small bundle you just folded can turn into a big towel again, plus any songs we care to sing or stories or related or unrelated facts we care to pass on.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »