The Problem with High Expectations and Control
Expecting a lot of our kids sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? If we have high expectations, perhaps our children will strive to achieve more. And if we keep raising the goal posts, won’t they end up doing amazing things? They could have fabulous secure futures that include high paying jobs. If we push our kids, they might become doctors or lawyers or enter another high-status profession.
Or will our ideas and high expectations make our kids very unhappy? Perhaps our children will think that no matter how hard they work, they’ll never satisfy us. And what if they have their own ideas about the type of work they’d like to do?
These are some of the questions that my daughter Imogen and I are discussing in our latest Stories of an Unschooling Family podcast.
In episode 187, we’re talking about:
High expectations and control. Do they result in unhappy children? Do controlled kids look for distractions such as video games? Does limiting screen time result in an increased attraction for devices?
Also, we’re chatting about:
A novel that Imogen recently reviewed: Dear Hero
Inspiration and different ways of telling a story
How we can work together, share our skills, and help each other
The Catholic Homeschool Conference (I’m a speaker!)
News of two soon-to-be-produced unschooling podcasts
Show Notes
Things we mentioned in this episode:
Indistractible by Nir Eyal
Masterchef Australia 2021
Show Your Work by Austin Kleon
Dear Hero by Hope Bolinger and Alyssa Roat
Illuminae Files Book Series by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
The Catholic Homeschool Conference
My Unschooling Books
Curious Unschoolers: paperback
Radical Unschool Love: paperback
Where You Can Find Me
Unschooling Community
My Stories of an Unschooling Family community
Youtube
Blogs
Stories of an Unschooling Family
Where You Can Find Imogen
Blog
Youtube
Books
Photos
I took these photos last week when Imogen and I went to the Apple store in Sydney to get Imogen’s MacBook repaired. Imogen banged out far too many words on her laptop’s keyboard, and it protested and gave up working. The Apple store is amazing. The front walls are made of glass and so are the stairs. And the store is full of technology!
While we were in Sydney, we also visited the Dymocks bookshop where we had coffee in between selecting a few books to bring home.
Imogen and I share our Sydney adventure in episode 187.
We hope you’ll listen to our podcast!