Responding to your points on “Here are some of the things I agree that you do not need to do”:
Have everything be educational. All of my kids are grown and out of college, all successful. I was careful to make sure they had a lot of unstructured play time, such as following a neighborhood creek for miles in different seasons, year after year, just to see what we saw together or what they saw on their own. I didn’t build academic lessons around that, or about most of what we did, so they still mention the creek as a childhood highlight.
Constantly be teaching, including basic stuff they learn anyway. I made sure my kids were exposed to a lot of things, including seeing me do many things well and many more poorly. I gave them a lot of experiences and then more time doing the ones they asked to do again. Kids are constantly learning. Why interrupt that by teaching?
Prevent social conflict. Children need to learn how to handle conflict, disappointment, and failure while they are kids, so they know how to respond and then rebound when it happens as adults.
Buy infinite toys. We didn’t quite ban toys that use electricity, but close. Duplos/Legos/blocks were big. Their number of other toys was low. Imagination filled in the gaps.
Keep them away from the real work. Excellent advice. My kids had chores, even if they had to stand on a stool to reach the sink or interrupt studying for AP exams because it was their night to help with the dishes. My kids grew up seeing themselves as part of making the home work, which is a whole lot more useful than most homework.
Responding to your points on “Here are some of the things I agree that you do not need to do”:
Have everything be educational.
All of my kids are grown and out of college, all successful. I was careful to make sure they had a lot of unstructured play time, such as following a neighborhood creek for miles in different seasons, year after year, just to see what we saw together or what they saw on their own. I didn’t build academic lessons around that, or about most of what we did, so they still mention the creek as a childhood highlight.
Constantly be teaching, including basic stuff they learn anyway.
I made sure my kids were exposed to a lot of things, including seeing me do many things well and many more poorly. I gave them a lot of experiences and then more time doing the ones they asked to do again.
Kids are constantly learning. Why interrupt that by teaching?
Prevent social conflict.
Children need to learn how to handle conflict, disappointment, and failure while they are kids, so they know how to respond and then rebound when it happens as adults.
Buy infinite toys.
We didn’t quite ban toys that use electricity, but close. Duplos/Legos/blocks were big. Their number of other toys was low. Imagination filled in the gaps.
Keep them away from the real work.
Excellent advice. My kids had chores, even if they had to stand on a stool to reach the sink or interrupt studying for AP exams because it was their night to help with the dishes.
My kids grew up seeing themselves as part of making the home work, which is a whole lot more useful than most homework.