Should a Child Be Given the Freedom to Choose?
If children are given the freedom to do whatever they want, will they choose to do nothing at all?… Imogen, would you like to discuss this question with me, in this week’s podcast?”
My nearly 20-year-old daughter said, “Okay!”, so I grabbed my notebook and we began brainstorming points we could talk about. Soon we had a list of additional questions:
Is anyone actually capable of ‘doing nothing at all’?
When mothers shout, “Go and do something!” to their kids, could they actually mean “go and do something I think is valuable”?
If a child does seem to be doing not much of anything, is it okay?
Should children be made to do things they don’t like doing?
Will children follow the easier pathway rather than the more difficult one, if given the choice?
And could it actually be essential for parents to let children choose?
Sophie heard us discussing this topic and added a few comments of her own.
“Would you like to join us for the podcast?” I asked my 13-year-old daughter. She did want to be involved. So the three of us disappeared into my bedroom where my computer and microphone were all set up, to record what we hoped would be a very interesting conversation.
Did our podcast turn out to be interesting? Maybe you’d like to listen to find out!
