Your thought for the day

[spatch]

That whole "indigo children" stuff is just proof positive we're gearing up to raise ourselves a nation of Mary Sues.

And, in other news, it's Sunday.

Comments

[dcart.livejournal.com]

I can actually see a kernel of something good in here, but the combination of new agey condescension and spoiled entitlement contained in the web page about this "movement" certainly make it seem like something that will end up being more harmful than good.

Nonetheless, there seems to be a certain bit of Holt inspired "un-schooling" in what they're doing and I fully endorse that kind of educational system. I think we end up with better citizens and more productive people when we're more focused on teaching our kids to think than we are on teaching them to conform.

[eeka13.livejournal.com]

Exactly. See, I think the whole Indigo thing (which I actually plan to blog about soon) gives a bad name to people who want to raise children to be freethinkers but who can also accept limits and can compromise and so forth. As others have pointed out, the Indigo thing is characterized by entitlement and thinking your kid shouldn't have to take any direction.

I'm a therapist, working mostly with kids, and I see entirely too many of these entitled families. It's like, there has to be a balance. Sure, part of the reason your kid is struggling is, in fact, because the school doesn't understand him. But you're only making things WORSE to teach the kid that he's too good for the school and not have any expectations in terms of taking direction or accepting limits.

These parents seem to have not gotten over their own issues of not having their needs met by school and parents and so forth. It totally fucks up kids to have their parents telling them they're wonderful and perfect and the rest of the world just doesn't understand. I mean, it's validating for a kid to hear that they're having a hard time this year because the teacher doesn't recognize that the kid needs to get up and move around frequently or is a visual learner or needs to be able to ask questions. But then you don't follow that by telling the kid that the teacher is an idiot and the kid doesn't have to try. It's like, unless the teacher is abusive, you still want to instill the basic idea that the teacher is competent and the kid and parent and teacher all need to work together. It makes kids feel really unsafe and confused when the parent is telling them that the teacher, who is the one in charge of keeping them safe and secure most of the day, is an idiot who doesn't understand them. I think there's like almost some Munchausen stuff going on, that these parents enjoy fucking up their kid so they can have a special child who the world doesn't understand.