"Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself..."
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"Psychologists have contended that most of the psychic damage to a child has been done in the first five years of its life. It is probably nearer the truth to say that the first five months, or weeks, or perhaps minutes can do damage that will last a lifetime. Unfreedom begins with birth... It may be no exaggeration to say that all children in our civilisation are born into a life-disapproving atmosphere..."
A.S.Neill [The Free Child]
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"Some people surrender their freedom willingly - but others are forced to surrender it. Imprisonment begins with birth. Society, parents - they refuse to allow you to keep the freedom you are born with. There are subtle ways to punish a person for daring to feel. You see that everyone around you has destroyed his true feeling nature. You imitate what you see.. teachers, religious leaders - even friends, or so-called friends - take over where parents leave off. They demand that we feel only the feelings they want and expect from us. They demand all the time that we perform feelings for them. We're like actors - turned loose in this world to wander in search of a phantom... endlessly searching for a half-forgotten shadow of our lost reality. When others demand that we become the person they want us to be, they force us to destroy the person we really are. It's a subtle kind of murder.. the most loving parents and relatives commit this murder with smiles on their faces..."
Jim Morrison [Interview with Lizze James]
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If I Had My Child To Raise Over Again
If I had my child to raise over again,
I'd finger paint more,
and point the finger less.
I'd do less correcting, and more
connecting.
I'd take my eyes off my watch,
and watch with my eyes.
I would care to know less, and
know to care more.
I'd take more hikes and fly more
kites.
I'd stop playing serious, and
seriously play.
I would run through more fields
and gaze at more stars.
I'd do more hugging and less
tugging.
I would be firm less often, and
affirm much more.
I'd build self-esteem first and the
house later.
I'd teach less about the love of
power, and more about the
power of love.
Diane Loomans
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