Monday Medley: The Sparkling Martins on Wife Swap!

I was so excited to see the Martin family on Wife Swap this week. Well, technically I don’t watch the show, and I saw it online after it had already aired, but it was still quite exciting. I try to catch everything that features the Martins, especially Dayna, whom I aspire to be more like in my life. She is such an inspiration of love and kindness, as well as a mother raising four autonomous people. Be sure to check out the episode if you get a chance; the link features the entire show.

Play at Mom has a YES challenge in order to encourage parents to say yes to their children much more often. Check it out and see if you’d like to participate! It’s also simply a great blog to follow with lots of fun ideas.

Here is a great post on learning to center with kids.

The funniest things are often partially rooted in truth, and that’s how this story from The Onion is. It makes fun of adults who medicate kids for—well, being kids. You read it and realize immediately how ridiculous it is, yet thousands of families use these descriptions of normal behavior to put their children on pills even before they hit puberty. The sad thing is that our culture has bought into the idea that little kids need to sit still for hours at a time, and when they can’t it’s not biology but a “disorder.” The disorder, of course, is society expecting children to sit at a desk for hours at a time. Our young naturally learn through play.

This speaker is apparently telling kids if they have sex before marriage, they are worthless humans who need to repent—and she’s been hired to speak in many public high schools. This makes me so sad, especially for the teens who’ve made tough decisions and are already vulnerable and in need of love and guidance, not shame. I don’t approve of the graphic made of her on this page, but I certainly don’t approve of her methodology, either.

Check out this cool idea for storing stuffed animals!

Here’s a video featuring A. S. Neil regarding Summerhill free school.

And here’s a lovely quote from Pam Leo, author of Connection Parenting.