There are some incredible unschooling principles that can help you celebrate and honour your child’s love of screens. Being in a position of understanding why your child enjoy’s watching and gaming and learning via the internet is an important part of our role as unschooling parents. However, it doesn’t mean we have to provide unlimited screen time.
But first, let’s be inspired by these unschooling principles:
1 – Value children’s interests and hobbies
Unschoolers value our children’s loves! We celebrate the things they like and provide opportunities to go deeper with them
2- No hierarchy of activities or “learning”
Unlike School Fixated Society, we don’t place academics above art, or reading above physical prowess. We see that all hobbies, loves and activities are worthy and important.
3- Children can be trusted to make great decisions
We trust that our kids know themselves really well and hold a lot of wisdom about their needs and their goals.
4- Children learn to make good decisions by doing
Unschoolers recognise that rather than “teaching” or “being told” the best way to learn is experiential.
5- Giving children access to expansive and real life learning situations
Unschoolers can see that the internet can provide real hands on learning, and opportunities to learn about almost anything in the world.
6- Giving opportunities for mastery
We celebrate how kids can deep dive into an area of interest and gain mastery in their gaming or other activities. Kids are able and worthy of mastery too!
7- Screens are modern society’s version of knives!
This analogy comes from Dr Peter Gray. Just like knives screens can be worrying for adults but they are an incredible tool for society and kids will only learn through using it.
We can honour our child’s love of digital learning and still, for the kids that need it (and for the adults that need it too!) provide a safe container.
I would love to help you figure out that sweet spot between unschooling principles that encourage screen time abundance, your deepest intuition and rational concerns about screen time.
