Outside the Box

Celebrate Individuality
Celebrate Individuality

Conformity, Our Enemy

A lot of what we experience in our society is rooted in conformity. Everything from fashion trends to standardized testing, view people not as individuals, but a collective herd, mooing in unison.

We are not duplicates. We are individuals.

Unschooling

I have a friend who not only homeschooled her kids for a couple years, but “unschooled” them. Yes, it’s legal. The philosophy was to allow children to discover who they are and what they are naturally good at on their own. Do they like to read? They can spend all day curled up with a book and then read about the author online. Do they enjoy Legos? Then they can be elbows deep in a building project that helps nurture their mind that naturally leans towards engineering and construction or architecture. Her kids loved taking things apart, so she’d go to thrift stores and look for old appliances that the kids could unscrew and investigate.

She promoted curiosity

Promote Curiosity

The point being, allow your kids to discover who they are. Don’t you wish you’d had that chance before you were 40? Let them be comfortable in their own skin, let them thrive in what they enjoy. There will always be time for conformity; the lessons in that subject will follow them throughout their lives, but while they are young and impressionable, let them make their organic impressions that much deeper.

Thrive

Take the chance to self-discover this summer. Turn off the TV and ask you kids what they would love to do if they could do anything. Do they want to draw, look for bugs, swim or read? When I was a kid I was a Girl Scout and I loved to learn. Every weekend was a chance for me to earn a new badge, discover a new talent, complete a project, thrive.  

Give your kids space to thrive and to celebrate individuality.

Photo credit: http://beyoumedia.org/category/individuality/