To wonder if this is what people mean by gentle parenting

[pleasemothermay1]

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3699191/Outrage-parents-allow-child-toilet-Morning-floor.html

Not sure why a one year old wouldn't have a nappy on as she clearly is not Notts trained at that age my one year old would be become destressed to be constantly wet

And what's the no medication about surely social service would become involved if they got very ill and parents did noting

Very odd

Here's my problem with unschooling

children's learning is never self directed, not fully, they can only chose from the options they are exposed to.

So if you live on a farm where your parents daily activities include: tending livestock, butchering, preserving, planting food, harvesting, building/repairing buildings, carpentry, thatching, spinning own wool etc.
.. then the kids'll probably chose something valuable to learn out of all the opportunites they're exposed to

Likewise, if your parents are carnies, and they and their community are doing business, engineering/repairs, logistics, serving the public etc.. again, lots of valuable lessons going on in your environment for you to chose from.

If your mum mostly blogs/facebooks and looks up juicing on youtube from a 1 bed flat, and your dad does a bit of yoga.. your "self directed learning" is going to be pretty limited!

They did an interview in the Mirror five days ago. Adele has lost touch with most of her immediate family. Hmm.

Instead of joining his friends in the reception class at the local primary school, he spends his days drawing on the walls of their rented home, playing hide and seek with his parents and helping forage for food.

I bet their landlord's delighted.

“Ulysses is a natural leader, so he doesn’t like to be told what to do. We follow his lead and we’ll do the same with Ostara."

Oh god....

Wow, SuperSal. I wish I could say the same. Well done!

Seriously. I think she needs help. The kid did look soooo bored.

Am off to read that interview now!

I see they gave an interview to the Mirror five days ago. Quite a media offensive.

Amongst other gems, they reveal that Ulysses draws on the walls of their rented flat - bet their landlord's overcome with joy to learn this - and “Ulysses is a natural leader, so he doesn’t like to be told what to do. We follow his lead and we’ll do the same with Ostara.” My children didn't like being told what to do at that age, but it had sod all to do with being natural leaders and a lot more to do with being five years old and lacking in common sense.

If your mum mostly blogs/facebooks and looks up juicing on youtube from a 1 bed flat, and your dad does a bit of yoga.. your "self directed learning" is going to be pretty limited!

Bit unfair. There are probably all sorts of learning opportunities right on their doorstep. EG tides, star gazing, seaside flora, fauna and wildlife, counting with pebbles and shells from the beach (and where they've come from), the water cycle, weather, how buildings are made and for what purpose, art, how the body works (yoga), distance and perspective (end of the pier)......

Sorry for the double post - internet playing up here!

I've just read the article, and think they sound bonkers for many reasons but the kids' lives don't sound as dull as many are trying to portray...and their approach to education isn't unusual. I've noticed though that most people are focussing on the mother here and how bonkers and unfair she is...What about their father?

My 5 year old will be following her body clock over the summer. She can't usually get to sleep till about 10pm in the summer as it is. And she's never woken naturally before 8am herself unless ill.

We don't rush for medication for minor illnesses either. Hot squash and honey and lemon for colds, steamy rooms for congestion etc.

I think this seems extreme because of the number of unconventional things they do. When I told the midwife I used to give DD daytime (expressed) breastmilk at night and nighttime (expressed) breastmilk during the day because it meant she slept better, and that she liked it at 40oC not 37oC she gave me a but it worked for us. When I give DD fruit before a meal because it seems to wake up her hunger I sometimes get . And when I wasn't bothered about her not eating her packed lunch at school because she naturally prefers to eat most of her day's food between 3:30pm and 8pm I got lots and lots of . I couldn't care less!

My sister is a primary school teacher and she does a child-led curriculum, which seems to get good responses. But that basically means that the kids pick the themes, and she finds a way to develop their knowledge, within this theme. It is a lot of work for her though.

Their eldest sounds like a right little scoundrel.

I can't help feeling their mum is a little bit dim, rather sensitive and perhaps unhappy. (I would be if my kids were running around, drawing on walls and not going to bed).

DD drew on the wall aged about 2. Haven't painted over it. She hasn't done it since, mind you! Perhaps it's a daily reminder not to.

Bit unfair

No it's really not
My point is that children of unschoolers are a captive audience to their parents habits and the environment their parents provide for them.

Having read her blogs they seem to have very limited lifestyles and interactions.

I know some unstructured home schoolers - no enforced timetable or curriculum, BUT one has converted their conservetry into a resource room, with shelves full of books, craft activities, science kit etc for the kids to dip into in their own time. Others live in the countryside with animals etc and one family are travelling performers.

From the looks of it, old Ulysses has one small box of paints and some pine cones, some beat up plastic garden toys and a small garden that he clearly doesn't get to see his parents tending with any sort of skill. Oh and there's barefoot walks to the corner shop, lets not forget that, while the parents wear shoes cause it's not so fucking awesome to "connect with life" on grotty urban streets

All the same here Souper, except for the expressing as neither would take a bottle. Both mine are currently out playing, but will be in soon I'm sure.

Aye, my DD did once. I threw all the felt tips/crayons out (hard to remove!) and we had a rather serious discussion about only drawing only on paper, with our pencils.

Am clearly not a GP!

DD's happily drawing and doing puzzles now. She's super-lovely at this time of night.

on the mother here and how bonkers and unfair she is...What about their father?

Lots of people have commented on his bonkers barefoot speech, which he notably made wearing shoes himself!

other than that he doesn't really seem to have much to say for himself, oh, he smiles at his kids, and that helps their bond - thanks for your wisedom there mate!

Ulysses looks like he's acting up to the camera team - I wonder if its very novel for him to have people visit , he acts like it is.

DD would go barefoot to the shops if I let her, she's always going out barefoot on the gravel outside and even if she does wear her shoes out they inevitably get taken off at some point. Not fussed about the barefoot issue really.

DD would go barefoot to the shops if I let her, she's always going out barefoot on the gravel outside and even if she does wear her shoes out they inevitably get taken off at some point. Not fussed about the barefoot issue really

You're also not wanking/word vomiting about how going barefoot is part of your philosophy because its the best way for children to feel life

That's the difference.

(same for all the other stuff they do that many others do)

Completely batshit. I'm quite willing to make a huge donation to their just giving page if it means they'll fuck off quicker to Costa Rica
If they're out of the country nobody will be at risk of stepping in Ulysses' or Ostara's piss or worse
Nobody will be at risk of contracting horrible diseases from their unvaccinated children.
Best of all, none of us will have to witness Adele deliberately getting her tits out for the press and breastfeeding her school age children.

Hope the landlord evicts them for allowing Ulysses to draw on the walls.

The father is essentially Silent Bob. Thats why all the focus is on her. He's just background colour.

Mind you, she talks so much hes probably given up trying to get a word in.

What I find hillarious is that for people who are pimping themselves out as off grid gurus, they're probably be given the run if they trotted up to a real off grid community

• Hi, nice to meet you, as you may know we run a barter system for essential skills and materials, what can you do/produce?
• A:"I can write your blog for you", MrA:"I'm a life coach" (meaningful smug grin)
• no I mean carpentry? roofing? biodynamic gardening? animal husbandry? can you make/fix solar panels? are you any good at ditch digging?
• A:"I'm very keen on medicinal herbs"
• GREAT! (thinks: phew! finally something useful!) so can you distil? preserve? prepare?
• A: well I get my organic oils at Whole Foods, but I'm good at googling/youtubing "which oils for athletes foot"
• This isn't going to work out for us..

^I have a strong belief that every ­disease and condition has an emotional and mental route to it,” she said. “I ­believe in working on the emotional cause rather than treating symptoms.

“If we see them sad or angry, we discuss what’s wrong before it manifests in the body. I haven’t had personal experience of meningitis but I think fasting is a very powerful tool – it cleans out the system.^

It's an interesting point about unschoolers only being exposed to their parents' way of life etc. There's a technique some use (well, I say 'technique' but really it's another of these unnecessary labels for a perfectly natural/common sense activity, I think) called 'strewing' where you deliberately leave enticing resources around, no pressure at all, just to see if they'll spark an interest. So leaving particular story books on a theme around, or models of a particular type of animal, or whatever.

My DD doesn't naturally sleep early either. It was an absolute nightmare when she was at school. We've been HEing since February last year and we finally saw someone from CAMHS (anxiety) - I was really really worried they'd tell us off for her awful sleep pattern, but actually the psychologist was really positive - said that it's great we are allowing her to follow her natural rhythms, both with taking her out of school and the sleep. She just does wind down activities in the evening, she writes/draws etc until her brain has chilled out a bit.

My DCs often go barefoot outside, near the house (or in parks). I guess it is rather hypocritical of the parents wearing their birkenstocks though, while saying how important it is for their child to step on glass etc?!

There's a technique some use called 'strewing' where you deliberately leave enticing resources around, no pressure at all, just to see if they'll spark an interest.

Yes, there wasn't a lot of that going on in this instant.

Most ^school attending* kids I know have more educational stuff strewn about to chose from than Ulysses and his sister had.
Most kids I know schooled or not, have construction toys that teach reasoning and maths, books, activity books, more craft stuff than a few paints, role play costumes or toys, motion toys..

but toys are too conventional for this lot..

Too many toys is a problem too, but none is IMO only okay if you're lucky enough to be rural where there's an abundance of natural physical "toys" like logs and sticks and trees etc, and you're doing the same learning helping stack logs as you would with lego, and you're role playing your parents animal husbandry by helping with it etc.

Autism: A complex condition often triggered by heavy metal poisoning from the mercury in dental fillings and/or the mercury added to vaccinations. A heavy metal detox under guidance of a qualified practitioner is paramount to healing the body from mercury poisoning. A natural and safe combination for children to take combines coriander/cilantro herb with the algae called Chlorella.

Course not sure how a child with no access to any services would be diagnosed with Autism in the first place, but whatevs....