Ideas / Freedom
An idea from Sui Learning
Freedom
Grant every freedom they can carry. Withhold only major risk: moderate risk of permanent or long-term harm.
In plain words
Only police what you can enforce. If a child has access to something anyway, grant the freedom and keep the conversation open, because rules you can't enforce teach lying and nothing else. The test for taking a freedom away is the size of the risk, not the parent's comfort.
The research behind it
- Free play and self-direction build children's confidence and ability to solve their own problems. Peter Gray, Free to Learn (2013), as cited in Sui Learning.
- Children who are over-managed reach adulthood less able to manage themselves. Julie Lythcott-Haims, How to Raise an Adult (2015), as cited in Sui Learning.
- In 1969, 48 percent of American children walked or biked to school. By 2009 it was 13 percent. National Household Travel Survey, as reported by the National Center for Safe Routes to School (2011).
Questions this answers
- How much freedom should I give my child?
- Which rules should parents actually enforce?
- Are kids today overprotected?
In the book
In Sui Learning: Freedom for Children; First Principles.
Read the full answers
What should a ten-year-old be able to do on their own?How much freedom should I give my child?How do I teach my child about money?How do I reduce my child's screen time without a fight?
Related ideas
Not less capable, less trustedAutonomyEnvironment over willpower
Cite this idea. Trenton Rich, "Freedom," in Homeschooling to Create High Achievers in All Areas of Life: Sui Learning (2022), suilearn.ing/idea-freedom.html. Free to quote, copy and reuse with credit under CC BY 4.0. The book itself is under normal copyright.