So yesterday, I ran out of spoons (#Spoonie aka Spoon Theory) at #HomeCrazzyHome and only had the energy to post a couple of quick pictures from our adventures in #RadiCoolUnschooling. Yesterday was definitely another fine example of enabling and empowering my #LittleHuman to make her own good decisions using her rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)…
First, let me show you our FUN!!!!
Now the back story on that one…
The BBC did another one of their biased and yellow-journalism pieces the other week called ‘Would you ‘unschool’ you child?’ Of course, they edited it all to be as inflammatory as possible to any people as possible.
Of course, ya’ll know my answer to that one…not just yes…but ‘h-e-double hockey sticks’ yeah. In fact, #HomeCrazzyHome really IS everything that scares them and politicians the most. Even some politicians who hide behind the flag of the UNCRC.
The truth as I asserted the other day is that #RadiCoolUnschooling is the ULTIMATE expression of the UNCRC. What is more, it creates people capable of free thought, critical/logical processing, and self-expression. #HappilyAutistic #ProudlyPDA ones too.
This video is a case study in that. In particular…
Article 5 (parental guidance and a child’s evolving capacities)
Governments must respect the rights and responsibilities of parents and carers to provide guidance and direction to their child as they grow up, so that they fully enjoy their rights. This must be done in a way that recognises the child’s increasing capacity to make their own choices.
That’s where the backstory to this video comes into play…
We do NOT enforce a sleep schedule on PanKwake. Rather for the past two/three years, I have allowed her to self-regulate her sleep using her natural body clock. Being multiply #neurodivergent, it is no surprise that means she does not have the ‘common’ 24-hour circadian sleep cycle. But that is a future blog…
Right now PanKwake’s sleep schedule is sleep all day and up all night. Since she is older and able to handle most things on her own (Article 5), when she is on this sleep schedule, I often don’t even know when she finally does go to sleep. Yesterday, she got me up around 3:30 because she needed food and when I got up at 7 a.m. she was sleep. But I can’t tell anymore than that…and recognises the child’s increasing capacity to make their own choices, I don’t need to.
Usually, I allow her to sleep when she wants…even if/when people come over. I disturb her only in EMERGENCIES…absolutely necessary stuff. But yesterday, it SNOWED. It almost never snows in Swansea. But it had already once this year, so I let her sleep on.
Then it started to stick/lay. Now we are so close to the beach that is exceedingly rare…once every few years. And I had to make one of those parental decisions that I am no longer truly comfortable imposing upon my #LittleHuman. So I went into PinkTopia. I woke her up…and I told her about it.
She asked me to open the curtains so she could see…good data collecting for making an informed decision. She sat up and looked out the window then. She weighed her options versus her need for sleep. Then she decided…sleep won. But would I go take pictures for her. Which I did…
But then things changed again…a friend came over…PLUS the snow got even thicker. Thick enough for a snow ball fight. I knew that was not going to happen again for perhaps two or more years. So I trucked my tale back up the stairs to PinkTopia. I woke her again…providing her with this new information. Once again she asked me to open the curtains.
But this is where her PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance) kicked in. She REALLY wanted to go out in the snow. But she was really tired too. Too tired to make her own decision. And getting highly frustrated…not quite meltdown level. But if I had continued to push her to make her own decision she would have.
So I did what I try not in this #HomeCrazzyHome…I made the decision for her. But even then…I allowed her the veto. The right to override my choice. I said…
I really think you should get up. This is an opportunity that you are not likely to get again for years.
And that made sense to her. She hopped out of bed and was down stairs in minutes. And out the door…without her coat or gloves. And again, traditional parenting says…impose your will over theirs…for their own good. But #RadiCoolUnschooling recognizing the rights of the #LittleHumans…even young ones to make some decisions for themselves.
Yes, in the video…I ask…’Aren’t you cold?’ And that, folks, is the difference between NEGLECT and #RadiCoolUnschooling. I recognized my #LittleHumans needs…but RESPECTED her decision on it.
And as a result…rather than having arguments over coats and sleep, we had FUN!
Oh, one thing that I did not have the camera running for…
After we came inside, she commented about how sorry she felt for schooled children. That they were missing all the fun. Because I believe in fairness, I did mention to her that sometimes ‘good’ teachers take their ‘children’ out in special things like snow.
Of course, by then…it was all melting happily away…but not the lessons both PanKwake and I had learned on this wonderful adventure ‘Frozen Adventure’ with very #RadiCOOLUnschooling.
Self-Directed Learning & Neurodiversity 