Absolutely agree with this! The further I get along the unschooling path (kids are now 11 and 8), the more I realize how little I “know”, and how everyone’s situation/ kid/ neurotype/ trauma history/ boundaries are different. What works well for another family won’t necessarily work for ours, and vice versa.
Exactly! I really feel like we don't hear this enough, or maybe it wasn't something I really understood until we ended up far from a lot of typical learning and parenting. Even with unschooling there are a lot of ideas about how kids will just learn and they will be so engaged when they can choose what to do. Totally true and amazing for some kids, but it hasn't worked out quite that way for us.
Having been both sides of the fence as an ‘expert’ SEN teacher and a struggling mum of 2 neurodiverse children, I find it hard to trust myself and my instincts with what is right for my family - which looks totally different from everyone else I read about. I suppose that as parents, we are the experts for our kids but it’s hard to hold onto that when bombarded by other ‘experts’ telling us what we ‘should’ do - often which runs counter to our principles and what we know world for us. Despite 23 years teaching in the special needs field, I still don’t regard myself as an expert - more knowledgeable that some but it doesn’t help much either my kids!
I feel this way, too. It is so hard and I can very much empathize and relate to what you are saying. I really struggle to know what is best for my neurodivergent kid and to even know what they need a lot of the time. It is so hard. At the same time, we haven't found any experts who really have answers either. For me it is supportive and liberating to accept that it's not important to be an expert and those who might be regarded as experts still don't have all the answers. I turn toward trusting myself because even though it is hard to do and I have constant doubts, trusting myself and building trust with others feels more meaningful and important when clear answers are hard to find.
So thoughtful and well said. I believe we can each be the expert of our own self and nothing more. It has taken me a long time to come to this realization; but possibly by retiring from my professional work, I was able to understand that as an “expert” in my field of study, I wasn’t really helping my clients in a way that was meaningful.
Thank you! It isn't something that we hear very much and it has taken me a long time to realize that I can learn to trust myself rather than looking elsewhere for answers. I'm sure it is easier to believe that one way will work for almost everyone, but that isn't always helpful when we all have such different experiences and needs.
Absolutely agree with this! The further I get along the unschooling path (kids are now 11 and 8), the more I realize how little I “know”, and how everyone’s situation/ kid/ neurotype/ trauma history/ boundaries are different. What works well for another family won’t necessarily work for ours, and vice versa.
Exactly! I really feel like we don't hear this enough, or maybe it wasn't something I really understood until we ended up far from a lot of typical learning and parenting. Even with unschooling there are a lot of ideas about how kids will just learn and they will be so engaged when they can choose what to do. Totally true and amazing for some kids, but it hasn't worked out quite that way for us.
Bravo! Well said. Thank you❤️
❤️
Having been both sides of the fence as an ‘expert’ SEN teacher and a struggling mum of 2 neurodiverse children, I find it hard to trust myself and my instincts with what is right for my family - which looks totally different from everyone else I read about. I suppose that as parents, we are the experts for our kids but it’s hard to hold onto that when bombarded by other ‘experts’ telling us what we ‘should’ do - often which runs counter to our principles and what we know world for us. Despite 23 years teaching in the special needs field, I still don’t regard myself as an expert - more knowledgeable that some but it doesn’t help much either my kids!
I feel this way, too. It is so hard and I can very much empathize and relate to what you are saying. I really struggle to know what is best for my neurodivergent kid and to even know what they need a lot of the time. It is so hard. At the same time, we haven't found any experts who really have answers either. For me it is supportive and liberating to accept that it's not important to be an expert and those who might be regarded as experts still don't have all the answers. I turn toward trusting myself because even though it is hard to do and I have constant doubts, trusting myself and building trust with others feels more meaningful and important when clear answers are hard to find.
So thoughtful and well said. I believe we can each be the expert of our own self and nothing more. It has taken me a long time to come to this realization; but possibly by retiring from my professional work, I was able to understand that as an “expert” in my field of study, I wasn’t really helping my clients in a way that was meaningful.
Thank you! It isn't something that we hear very much and it has taken me a long time to realize that I can learn to trust myself rather than looking elsewhere for answers. I'm sure it is easier to believe that one way will work for almost everyone, but that isn't always helpful when we all have such different experiences and needs.