One Free Family

Comparison is a common approach to ascertain the performance of your child. But did you know that comparing children fuels unnecessary worry and unhealthy competitiveness in both parents and children? 

This episode is about steps you can take to give each day the best chance at being a success. Things you can do the night before, ongoing mindset work, and things you can do as you wake up to make each day with your kids a good one.

Do you know what's going on inside your toddler's head? In this episode, James and Taylor discuss how they think, what triggers their behavior, and how you can help with your toddler's development.   CALMS from Carrie Contey

Parenting is rewarding, but requires hard work, especially when things change. James and Taylor talk about dealing with changes in your everyday routine and sleepless nights, as parenting can take lots of energy, emotional commitment, and patience.   Links: http://www.becomingwhoyouare.net/13-reasons-making-changes-1/ http://www.parenting-with-love.com/soothing-your-baby-the-calms-way/  

Is "screen time" hazardous for your child? In this episode, James and Taylor discuss how parents can make sure their children's use of computers and mobile devices can be beneficial to their growth.  https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201803/sense-and-nonsense-about-video-game-addiction https://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world https://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_the_game_that_can_give_you_10_extra_years_of_life https://nypost.com/2016/08/27/its-digital-heroin-how-screens-turn-kids-into-psychotic-junkies/

What is deschooling? It is basically the stage of self-directed learning where you're working through and trying to eradicate mainstream schooling thoughts. People refer to it as a period of time where you're working on confronting the ideas of what learning is and to let go of some ideas.    Links referenced in this episode:     Living Joyfully - Deschooling  

What is it like to manage the situation with multiple children, all of whom we hope to care for and love equally, and who sometimes appear to have needs that are in conflict with one another, or who are sometimes the source of each other's distress? It is possible to help siblings coexist as peacefully as possible. Pam Laricchia's speech, "A Family of Individuals" Siblings Without Rivalry

Another question from our listeners this week! It revolves around how we use our positions as parents to help our children be better people Can we influence this, and if we can, what are the best ways to do that? Do our kids already come into this world good? Theresa Graham Brett's website  Article from the Guardian on Why people donate Alfie Kohn's Punished by Rewards Nancy Willard's bullying website

How do we balance letting children guide their own habits and activities versus intervening in their diet, activities, and habits in an effort to mitigate developing unhealthy habits? This is a question we received from Bobby H. in the Pax Libertas Productions Fan Group and we loved this question, so here we go! This is a struggle for all parents, of course. Trust is a major key in this, and that is tough for people first moving into peaceful parenting. It's a cultural norm to not trust children, and many of us were not trusted as children. Alfie Kohn - Choices for Children

What are our real goals in all of our connections with our kids? We dive into what we really focus on with each interaction with our kids. How can we build a stronger connection to our kids? Will this next decision deepen our connection with our child or will it chip away at that connection? This is a lens we try to look through during our interactions.

Unschooling is so often defined by what it isn't, but it's so much more than "not school." In this episode, James and Taylor dive into some ways to create a nutrient rich learning environment that expands our kids' worldviews while also giving them space and support to go deeper on their existing interests. 

James and Taylor dive into strategies they use when preparing to explain their unusual parenting choices with other loved ones, developing confidence around "outside the box" parenting decisions, and how to answer hard questions about why you're parenting outside the norm.

This episode, Letting Go of Expectations, is based on an email James received in response to a blog post he wrote elsewhere. The email brought up some great questions on expectations we set for our children that we dive into on this episode. The emailer wonders how she would have picked up being such a great writer had she not been required to learning how to write as a child. In self-directed learning, we allow our children to choose what is meaningful to them and what they want to spend their time investing in. This allows them to develop the skills that are most desirable to them as they see fit. Did the emailer become a writer because she became proficient at it in school? Had she spent time doing things of her choice as a child, would she have developed other skills that may have changed her life? How different would her life have been? Would it have been happier? Not as happy? Wealthier? Not as wealthy? We can't know. We will never know the outcome if we had sent our kids to more traditional educational

This is the introductory episode where we start with our origin story, where we first came up with our ideas for parenting our kids in a radically different way. We will talk about our goals both for parenting and for this podcast. We are both certified school teachers, but we largely identify with the term "unschooling" now because that's our approach based on what feels comfortable with us right now. Sir Ken Robinson, School Kills Creativity video on YouTube SurfWise Documentary is on Netflix! At one point, we considered starting a self-directed learning school, but instead, we decided to forgo the burdensome regulations and work as camp counselors at a summer camp. Summer camp showed us a lot of beautiful things in self-directed learning and opened up a lot of opportunities for us. One thing we were missing in all of this was a community. We looked more seriously at an idea we had heard about for years in the Free State Project, a migratory movement to bring liberty-minded people to New Hampshire. We decid

This is a very unexplored area in parenting in a lot of cases, and since it is a cultural moment in the news and media lately, we wanted to touch on this topic in the last two episodes. Where can we seek more consent with our children? This is part two of a two-part episode on consent. What are the gray areas of consent? We ran out of time to touch on this one in the last episode, so we finish the discussion in this episode. Before we get started, we'd like to invite you to join us on Facebook! We have both a Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/onefreefamily/) where you can stay informed of our new episodes and blog posts, and a Facebook Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/onefreefamily/) where you can join in on the discussion with us, whether you are already on the journey to applying peaceful parenting, or if you are skeptical and want to know more. Forced obligations are usually not meaningful. Authentic engagements are usually much more meaningful. Should we expect more from our children than we e

Consent This is a very unexplored area in parenting in a lot of cases, and since it is a cultural moment in the news and media lately, we wanted to touch on this topic this week. Where can we seek more consent with our children? We are breaking this episode down into three areas. 1) Physical consent. This is one that culture is talking a lot about lately. Should kids be required to show physical affection for people if they don't want to? Should kids be forced to say things like "I'm Sorry," "Please," "Thank you," or even, "I love you?" 2) When can we seek more consent with our children? Should you expect your kids to share their toys with other children, or should you require it? 3) What are the gray areas? We ran out of time to touch on this one, so make sure to listen next week for Consent Part 2!  

A new take on peaceful parenting brought to you by former professional educators who underwent a paradigm shift in 2010 that led them more in the direction of self-directed education. James and Taylor Davis have been peaceful parenting for years and will share their unique experience with you.