I have so much swirling around my head these days. It’s hard to focus. It’s also really hard to write about anything other than Palestine, but I want to talk about something related (because it’s all related) yet unrelated: capitalist realism and how exploring this notion is opening up new ideas around how to help my kids thrive in the current neo-liberal late-stage capitalist landscape.
So good!! Recently I read h the book Dopamine Nation, and while I have a lot to say about it, it did explain how constantly seeking pleasure, and having it be so easy since pleasure is available to us in so many ways, may be affecting our brains and lives. It links up to what you say at the end about perhaps what part of our role is as unschooling parents.
So much to think about! We also check all of those boxes in your list 😵💫😵💫😵💫 and I definitely see it as part of my job to get us outside and playing and connecting with other humans and doing other things good for our brains and bodies! My almost 6 would be perfectly happy playing video games all day (so would my husband 😂). We’re still newish to unschooling but I know many talk about the importance of kids finding a community and purpose. Curious if you see yourself making any changes in your day to day after reading/thinking about all of this?
Thanks for your thoughts! Re: changes - yes, but I'm not sure what they look like yet! I find that these shifts in perspective are often more for me than for the kids. They help me hold intention in my mind when I'm picking my battles or encouraging their direction (both big NOs in the unschooling world...) more than tangible actions in our day to day.
‘So what if my role as a parent isn’t to indoctrinate my children in to popular culture like the modern education system does, but instead is to co-create a collective dream outside of that culture so that they can fathom another world without late stage capitalism? Or maybe even outside the digital industrial entertainment complex where we so keenly reside? Is it even possible to do that in a consent based way without plain old mom-lecturing? ‘
So good!
How do we do this in a respectful, not throwing all the screens in a bin way???
Today I proposed to the kids that we all use no screens for a month as an experiment to see how we feel without them. It was met with a huge NO but I think a month was a bit too much. I’m going to try again for a week.
I’m not anti screen at all, we use them for so many cool things but I’ve always noticed, particularly when we are passively consuming, that everyone (in my family) struggles to find satisfaction in anything else after.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this. I struggle with embodying my beliefs on slow work, and relationships over passive, fast entertainment.
A problem of our time, for sure. <3
So good!! Recently I read h the book Dopamine Nation, and while I have a lot to say about it, it did explain how constantly seeking pleasure, and having it be so easy since pleasure is available to us in so many ways, may be affecting our brains and lives. It links up to what you say at the end about perhaps what part of our role is as unschooling parents.
So much to think about! We also check all of those boxes in your list 😵💫😵💫😵💫 and I definitely see it as part of my job to get us outside and playing and connecting with other humans and doing other things good for our brains and bodies! My almost 6 would be perfectly happy playing video games all day (so would my husband 😂). We’re still newish to unschooling but I know many talk about the importance of kids finding a community and purpose. Curious if you see yourself making any changes in your day to day after reading/thinking about all of this?
Thanks for your thoughts! Re: changes - yes, but I'm not sure what they look like yet! I find that these shifts in perspective are often more for me than for the kids. They help me hold intention in my mind when I'm picking my battles or encouraging their direction (both big NOs in the unschooling world...) more than tangible actions in our day to day.
This is great. I just bought the book, thanks for the recommendation
This bit...
‘So what if my role as a parent isn’t to indoctrinate my children in to popular culture like the modern education system does, but instead is to co-create a collective dream outside of that culture so that they can fathom another world without late stage capitalism? Or maybe even outside the digital industrial entertainment complex where we so keenly reside? Is it even possible to do that in a consent based way without plain old mom-lecturing? ‘
So good!
How do we do this in a respectful, not throwing all the screens in a bin way???
Today I proposed to the kids that we all use no screens for a month as an experiment to see how we feel without them. It was met with a huge NO but I think a month was a bit too much. I’m going to try again for a week.
I’m not anti screen at all, we use them for so many cool things but I’ve always noticed, particularly when we are passively consuming, that everyone (in my family) struggles to find satisfaction in anything else after.