We Hurry Our Children

"We hurry our children to learn, to grow, to attend lessons and activities, to go to school. Like the hurrying that we imagine will result in more knowledge, we hurry our children out of the nest and into institutions run by strangers whose interaction with them is not always informed by love. As a society it sometimes seems as if we believe that hurrying our children into regimentation will make them tough and realistic, keep them from being vulnerably dependent on the protection of loving parents. Yet like academic hurrying, this independence-hurrying often has an effect contrary to our intentions. Paradoxically, it may prevent kids from growing up strong and independent. Independence grows form unconditional love, trust, and having one's appropriate dependency needs met, not from premature withdrawal of support. Perhaps our pressure on our children to grow, to learn, and to achieve is a reflection of our own way of being, as we hurry ourselves from task to task, from job to home, and through each moment, absorbed in our thoughts and anxieties, reacting rather than responding, acting from fear rather than love. Allowing our children the freedom to develop their own interests, to respond authentically to opportunities, and to grow and learn at their own pace is nothing less than refusing to indulge our fears and anxieties about the future and instead taking a courageous stand on behalf of love."

Grace Llewellyn - "Guerrilla Learning", 2001

foto tirada por César Betioli