Old – from the 2003 archive

Snapshot

Is a snapshot a matter of fulfilling your expectations or is it a picture of one moment in time?

Taking Children Seriously: it is rocket science!

Is this easy? It’s about as easy as it was for humans to get to the moon for the first time ever. But the way to get to the moon isn’t just to wait for things to get in the way and then work round them one by one (although, that’s important too): it’s by building a spaceship and making it work.

Moralyzin’ Maggie

Finding consensual solutions to problems sounds good to me. That’s exactly what we try to do around here, figuring out what each of us is wantin’ and how to get it, without stompin’ on anyone else’s toes in the process. That is the focus, preferences, and finding the ones we all like. The part about avoiding others’ toes is where the morality comes in, I guess.

Why stuff-management matters

Rather than shutting the door for fear of coercing, rather than waiting for the kids to ask for help, sometimes it’s better to find new good ways of helping and offer them with generous enthusiasm.

Forget about it!

Even when grandparents visit, pulling the door closed on a child’s room and protecting their privacy is the child’s right. Your child and their friends will happily disappear into that room—they don’t care about the mess. They don’t see it; they only see the cool stuff and the wonderful possibilities.

When toddlers get upset

Sometimes life can be challenging for toddlers even if we are doing our best to take them seriously.

Rank pessimism

Wherever we are on the scale of moral evolution today, we can always go up a rung tomorrow. Unless we prefer to turn away from growth and start claiming there are no more rungs, of course.