We judge and evaluate [a child] in a place where he has not been comfortable enough to engage in good conversations. In school, he has felt in need of repairs. I must always assume, with any child, that school is the source of whatever problems exist in school before looking elsewhere. [Read More...]

Parenting – despite our fears – is not usually an emergency. Usually, in parenting and in life, the best response to upsetting emotions is to reflect, not react. In other words, don’t take action while you’re triggered. [Read More...]

Children are subject peoples. School for them is a kind of jail. Do they not, to some extent, escape and frustrate the relentless, insatiable pressure of their elders by withdrawing the most intelligent and creative parts of their minds from the scene? [Read More...]

Only as I began to seek the children’s approval could I concentrate on individual needs and differences. If you want a certai nperson to like you, then you find out what makes him or her happy. I began to realize that I could not teach much to anyone unless the person liked me a lot. [Read More...]

…we assume that people naturally avoid challenging themselves, that it is “human nature” to be lazy. The evidence shows that if anything deserves to be called natural, it is the tendency to seek out optimal challenge, to struggle to make sense of the world, to fool around with unfamiliar ideas. [Read More...]