Mrs Hannigan's Home for Girls

Apparently Flo Gascon lets her kids eat ice cream for breakfast and Ronnie Maier (another unschooling genius mom) was inspired to host a blog carnival so she wouldn’t feel like such a loser so all us yes-sayers could shout it from the rooftops (or… our mommy blogs, as the case may be)

So before you announce that I’m crazy (as if I haven’t already confessed to that) check out the people commenting here because they’re THAT MOM (or Dad, maybe) too.

OK- I’m the mom that lets her 2 yr old eat a bowl of candied walnuts and rolaids, which she calls “drugs,” by the way.

I’m the mom that photographs her daughter’s bloody nose. In my defense, she WANTED pictures.

I’m the mom that lets her kids kiss poultry

I’m the mom that lets her kids play with fire. That’s right, the kids like to light birthday candles and hold them until they burn down. They drip hot wax on the table and their skin and peel it off and mold it into other shapes and play chicken to see who can let it burn down farthest. Why not?

I’m the mom that lets her kids draw on their bodies with sharpie markers. in this photo, those aren’t serpents of Wal-mart, that’s actually the mark of the dark lord- that’s right, my kids are death eaters (I’m the mom that lets them read that evil literature) I do realize permanent markers might be toxic, but I’m also that mom that grows organic veggies and doesn’t buy a lot of processed foods, so I think we have some wiggle room in the carcinogen department. I also clean with natural things instead of chemicals, so I’m sure that helps, too.

I’m that mom who lets her kids talk to strangers. Terrible, I know. I have this backwards socialization theory that states “Everyone is a stranger until you know them” and that “just because someone is a stranger, it doesn’t mean they’re bad” and that MAYBE kids are smart enough to know if someone is creepy or not and if no one ever talked to strangers the world would be a pretty boring place. In fact, everyone I know was a stranger at some point in time. But what do I know?

I’m that mom who lets her 2 yr old sit at the top of a bridge. Honestly, it was horrifying. And we got down right away. We spent some more time climbing all over the bridge, but the kid knew it wasn’t a good idea and couldn’t wait to get off of the ledge. My only regret is that I didn’t sit taller. Yeah- I’m that mom.

I’m that mom who takes the kids to the playground after dark. And plays with them instead of supervising them. Sunshine is for suckers.

I’m that mom who spends WAY TOO MUCH on art supplies. So shoot me.

I’m that mom who lets her 2 yr old put on lipstick, and wear it in public. she felt like a princess.

I’m that mom who pulled over so my teenagers could take their photo with the Sealy mattress sheep (but a non disclosure agreement prevents me from posting their photos on this blog)

I’m the mom that sat in a parking lot so my 13 yr old could catch a rabbit and bring it home as a pet

I’m the mom (and I’m not the only one, apparently) who lets the kids skate in the house, mattress surf down the stairs, build tents in the living room, use the roof of the car as a stage for impromptu performances, stay up until whatever time they feel like going to sleep…

Yeah, that’s me.

And I’m in good company, too

If deep thoughts like this rock your world, then please enter your email address:

FeedBurnerhooked you up. Seriously, you’ll be glad you did this. I’ve been meaning to talk to you about a few things.

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Sounds terrible, right?
When I was pregnant with Madelyn, I was working 50-60 hours a week at a Chinese restaurant. I was one of two people who were not Chinese. Maria was the other. She was 21 years old, the youngest of 19 children and still lived at home, very much “babied” by her [...]

So the other day, Emilee (16) carries a very limp & teary-eyed Grace (4) into my bedroom where I’m working and says “Mom, Grace is sad.” So I stopped working and held her in my arms and asked her why she was sad. She explained, with Emilee’s help, how it bothers her that Maddy [...]

OK- here’s how food, nutrition & shopping works in our house. Keep in mind that it’s a constantly evolving process of feeding our bodies, and we definitely didn’t start off like this. Every family has their own food issues. I believe that food shouldn’t be an issue. Human infants are born with the ability [...]

Radical unschooling has been getting a lot of press lately. People are genuinely shocked to learn that we don’t boss our kids around about every little thing on the planet. They assume, unfortunately, that they must be wild animals with no sense of responsibility, hygiene or social skills. On an unschooling message board the [...]

So the other day I posted an entire entry about my Grace. I’ve been watching her closely because she’s the first of my children to be completely and technically unschooled forever.
If we were a schooling family, she’d be getting ready for kindergarten, which would begin in a few months. As I watch [...]

Grace is my 4 yr old. She’s the one that was born in the shower. It’s a weird age, being 4. I know there are a lot of in-between ages when you’re a kid, but I’ve always thought that 4 was really a landmark transition. I mentioned before that we’ve never had [...]

In the book “Give me Liberty” by Gerry Spence, which isn’t about parenting at all, it’s about freedom from the profit-driven clutches of corporations and governments, he says;
“Children, as persons, are entitled to the greatest respect. Children are given to us as free-flying souls, but then we clip their wings like we domesticate the wild [...]

In the unschooling community, there’s a great respect for children’s inner wisdom. This week, for me, has been filled with confirmation that I need to follow my kids’ lead more often and to value their life’s experiences and authentic reactions.

Be fearless
I love going to the park and often, when we’re waiting for kids to [...]

OK, my theory is that humans are designed to move, a lot and that’s all we really need to do for fitness. Babies are in constant motion, flailing around until they realize they can turn over, then flailing around until they figure out how to propel themselves and after a while they grow into [...]

First of all, here are the top 5 reasons every woman needs a riding lawnmower for mother’s day
1- they’re white-noisy, which allows you to THINK – because listening to any thought that isn’t in your head is impossible
2- even if someone is yelling, you can’t hear anything and they can’t hear you either
3- so you [...]

This is a flashback post, from Dec 2008
So my morning coffee is interrupted by …”She said I can’t come into her fort.” So I responded by saying “that fort is not more important than your sister and if that fort is going to be in my living room, then all of my children are welcome [...]

I’ve changed this post- edited it a bit from its original form. It’s been a month or maybe more, since I wrote it and I hate having it up here. I tossed around the idea of deleting it. The original title was “Why no one talks about depression” but the post doesn’t [...]

I know people who think kids shouldn’t go to weddings or funerals. The first time I came across this perspective, I was shocked. Those are really important things in life- why shouldn’t children be included? The answer I was given is that “Old people don’t want a bunch of kids running around” in reference to [...]

Apparently nothing. I read a statistic about soldiers committing suicide. Apparently more of them are killing themselves than are being killed in battle.
To me, it was obvious that this indicates that no matter what we’re taught, or what we think we believe, that killing our own (war) is NOT natural, in fact it’s [...]

One of my favorite 13th century Persian poets is Rumi. Unfortunately I can’t understand a damn thing he wrote because I don’t speak Persian. Luckily, he’s been translated several times, this one is translated by Shahram Shiva:

A true Lover doesn’t follow any one religion,
be sure of that.
Since in the religion of Love,
there is no irreverence [...]

Six or seven times this week I’ve heard the term “terrible two’s” and honestly, I thought it was gone; dead, like the notion that it was OK to leave infants to cry alone in a crib and that women were less intelligent than men. I haven’t ever experienced a terrible two year old. Ever. [...]

People always think their dog is the best in the world, but mine really was. He had the most gentle, loving soul. He always let the kids play with him. They’d dress him up and put wigs on his hair. They once gave him rainbow colored streaks with sharpie markers. He was the very [...]

So the other day I was feeling defeated in the “Trying-to-be-my-best” category. I was probably tired. Probably because my husband was out of town leaving me to do everything by myself. I fell asleep wondering why I even bother.
We all have days like that.
I awoke about half an hour [...]