joy

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How to Parent So We’ll Have No Regrets

When I look at family photos from a few years ago, I remember those chaotic and messy days when I was at the centre of my children’s lives. I felt like those days would last forever. Sometimes, that was good: I wanted to stay firmly in the love-filled middle of my delightful mothering life. But there were also days when I was overwhelmed and tired and felt like I was…
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What if Adding Joy to Your Days Was Simple and Inexpensive?

When I ask my husband, Andy, what he wants to do to celebrate his birthday, he replies, "Let's go on a picnic." It's winter. An icy wind has been blowing for days. It's not ideal picnic weather, but does that matter? No. We'll be brave and gritty. We'll face the adverse weather together. We'll be adventurous. "What picnic food would you like to eat?" I ask. “Let's fill a thermos…
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Should We Push Kids to Use Their Talents, Aim High and Impress?

Do you ever wonder if you should push your kids? Make them do hard things even if they complain. Drill them. Give them a rigorous education. I’ve heard of kids who, after receiving that kind of education, are now surgeons and lawyers or have some other kind of high-status career. Wouldn’t it be good to say, “My daughter is a doctor!”? We wouldn’t have to prove we did an excellent…
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Be Brave and The Unschool Challenge

Sometimes we have to be brave, don’t we? We might need to ignore people’s opinions and possible criticism and do whatever fulfils the needs of our kids. We could need courage to ignore our fears about how our work will be received and go out there, use our talents and fulfil our dreams. Sometimes we need to be brave and step outside our comfort zones so we don’t end up…
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Why We Should Praise Our Kids

Praise is a tricky topic, isn’t it? Do we praise our kids or not? Many unschoolers and parenting experts warn us to stay well away from praise. We shouldn’t manipulate our kids with our words, should we? And will our kids think they’re better than everyone else if we heap lavish praise upon them? Years ago, I read all the expert opinions, but they didn’t match up to my experiences…
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Extracting Every Drop of Joy from Our Parenting Days

Did you go searching for joy today? Did you look for ways to turn ordinary moments into something special for you and your family? Did you linger in bed with a child snuggled up beside you, savouring the warmth and softness of little-person-skin instead of rushing to get on with your day? Perhaps you talked about your hopes for the day with each child? Did you say, “Is there anything…
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Radical Unschool Love, Praise and Joy

Do you ever praise your kids? Do you tell them you’re proud of them? Some people say we shouldn’t praise our kids. Maybe that’s because our children might end up doing things only because they want to gain our approval. And is there a risk a child might think she is better than everyone else if we praise her too often? We don’t want our kids becoming proud and obnoxious,…
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Why We Need to Support Our Kids’ Choices

The other evening, we were watching an old episode of a cooking competition TV show. It was elimination night. For three hours, the contestants measured and mixed and baked and decorated. They also made mistakes, felt discouraged, picked themselves back up, and tried again. No one wanted to go home. They all had to keep fighting for their place in the competition. Eventually, the clock ticked down, and everyone stepped…
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An Unschooling Challenge: Looking for Joy

Each week, in our Stories of an Unschooling Family Community, I post an unschooling challenge. The challenges are a way for us to explore the principles of unschooling, ponder a few ideas together, and make unschooling a reality in our lives. A few weeks ago, I shared the following challenge. A Looking for Joy Challenge Do you ever look for ways to add joy to your days? Well, that’s this…
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Fearing Our Kids Will Fail

When I was about eleven or twelve, I swam in a school carnival. I didn’t want to. You see, I wasn’t a strong swimmer. I was rather alarmed when I found out that I’d been entered for a freestyle race. The only good thing about the race was that it was short. I only had to swim the width of the pool. Anyone could do that, couldn’t they? Except somehow…
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