Children learn from their experiences through natural consequences which comes from respecting their rights and instilling good values. Obedience and punishments serve only to hamper their natural growth and development.
“There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences.” ~ P. J. O’Rourke
“The thing about natural consequences is that you don’t make them happen. They are the consequences that happen naturally. Any time a parent plans for something unpleasant to happen to her child so that she will learn a lesson, it is a punishment.” ~ Rue Kream [ Parenting A Free Child: An Unschooled Life]
“Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi
“Your best teacher is your last mistake.” ~ Ralph Nader
“If [kids] aren’t making mistakes, they’re not learning.” ~ Jim Fitzgerald
“A person who never made a mistake, never tried anything new.” ~ Albert Einstein
“Children make mistakes… like all humans.” ~ James Kimmel, [American psychologist and therapist]
“What happens is not as important as how you react to what happens.” ~ Ellen Glasgow
“The more risks you allow your children to make, the better they learn to look after themselves.” ~ Roald Dahl
“The only alternative to making mistakes is for someone to make all your decisions for you, in which case you will make their mistakes instead of your own.” ~ Grace Llewellyn, [The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education]
“The essential psychological requirement of a free society is the willingness on the part of the individual to accept responsibility for his life.” ~ Edith Packer
“People who want to go the right way must also be aware of wrong turns.” ~ Aristotle, [Greek philosopher, 384 - 322 BC]
“What passes as child’s play in many early learning programs today is planned, regulated, organized, supervised, and documented by adults to the point that the lightheartedness, spontaneity, and freedom that define childhood no longer exist.” ~ Jeff A. Johnson & Denita Dinger [Let Them Play]
“It is the nature of a child to behave childishly. That means that childish behavior is normal for children. Parents reacting with childish outbursts, hitting, demanding their own way, and name calling to their children’s normal behavior reveals areas the parents need to grow so that they can respond with the true nature of an adult…with mature, wise, and compassionate guidance.” ~ L.R. Knost
“Strong-willed children become adults who change the world as long as we can hang on for the ride and resist the temptation to tame the spirit out of them.” ~ Sarah Stogryn
“Real protection means teaching children to manage risks on their own, not shielding them from every hazard.” ~ Wendy Mogel [The Blessing of a Skinned Knee]
“The fears we don’t face become our limits” ~ Robin Sharma
“The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly, is to fill the world with fools.” ~ Herbert Spencer
