Children Are People

Writes Kicking it Unschool:

Children are people. Whole people. People with rights. People with likes and dislikes. People with wants and needs. People with opinions and perspectives unique to themselves.

When we bring a child into our home, we are bringing a younger, less experienced person home, but a person nonetheless. A person who deserves respect. A person who deserves for their needs to be met, and their wants to be considered. A person who deserves for their opinions and perspectives to be heard and respected.

A person who deserves love, patience, compassion and empathy while they learn to navigate their lives. A person who deserves to live in a mutually respectful partnership with us until they are ready to set out on their own.

Couldn’t agree more. We don’t own our children. They aren’t our slaves. They are human beings. Do unto others, child or adult. Respect begets respect. Peace begets peace. So simple, yet so foreign to most people. They’d rather base their lives and relationships on fear: fear that if they don’t punish their kids for bad behavior or reward them for good; fear that if they give their child a voice; fear that if they treat their children like equals instead of inferiors; fear that if they don’t indoctrinate them with the knowledge of what the “experts” say they need; that they’ll grow up to be serial killers, or something. Common sense these days is simply nonsensical.

Skyler.

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Founder and editor of Everything-Voluntary.com and UnschoolingDads.com, Skyler is a husband and unschooling father of three beautiful children. His writings include the column series “One Voluntaryist’s Perspective” and “One Improved Unit,” and blog series “Two Cents“. Skyler also wrote the books No Hitting! and Toward a Free Society, and edited the books Everything Voluntary and Unschooling Dads. You can hear Skyler chatting away on his podcasts, Everything Voluntary and Thinking & Doing.