We could learn a lot from this, but it necessitates a world where parents have the time to be around their kids more. I remember reading a similar article about French parenting, and it sounded somewhat similar to what's in this article, but the author noted that the French parenting style was possible because France has a generous welfare state, and parents spend less time at work. American parents turn into Helicopter Parents because they spend so much time at work that when they do have time with their children, they want to maximize its utility.
I had almost exactly the same reaction. The article is pretty careful not to advocate for universal child care or improving funding for public schools, since that would be communism and this is The Atlantic.
Americans are obsessed with finding the perfect way to raise their kids (or discipline themselves via self-help) because our society is collapsing and it seems like the path to success is narrowing to a thread. Still, there are some useful tips in this article, like, for example, don’t abuse your kids.
I’ve been homeschooling my kids since September, spending a shitload of time learning alongside them, and it’s honestly been—pleasant? It’s been nice getting to know them better and in some ways it’s a lot less stressful than school. There’s no grades or tests and I don’t have to make conversation with dickhead parents I can’t stand when I pick my kids up. The only major issue is isolation as well as my fear that the state won’t recognize that we have actually been learning for these past few months.
My wife is an RN and my family can afford it, which makes it possible. At the moment we can’t socialize at all because the kids of even lib parents can’t be depended on to wear their fucking masks or refrain from touching each other. Once the pandemic ends, if it ever does, we plan to send our kids back to school / prison, but now that we know what homeschooling is like we don’t think we’ll have too many issues if our kids decide that they prefer it. Our school also lets some crazy Christian kids do half homeschool / half “normal” school so we might also try that.
CW abuse
spoiler
One of my friend has two kids. They're both super young (like under 4) and he was talking about this recently.
His dad used to hit him and his siblings with a switch/belt as punishment and all that. He's read a TON of stuff like before they were even trying to have kids and he's big on not yelling and not like corrective punishment (that's not the phrase but it's like trying to explain why kids should/shouldn't do things) instead of expecting them to be perfect all the time. And his older kid is seriously like the best kid I ever go around.
Oh we aren't supposed to be teaching our kids cursing? :soviet-bashful:
