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By Mom Unplugged, April 1, 2008 8:13 pm

URGENT! TIME-SENSITIVE BLOG POST!!

In anticipation of TV-Turnoff Week (April 21st-27th), Diane at dkMommy Spot is giving away a copy of the book Living Outside the Box: TV-Free Families Share Their Secrets by Barbara Brock. Please read Diane’s review of this very interesting-sounding book, which is based on a 1999 study of over 500 TV-free families.

I have heard of the study and the results are quite fascinating. This book is definitely on my “to read” list!

Unfortunately I am so behind with my blogging, emailing, etc. (due to my week away - or perhaps simply due to massive disorganization), that I regret to report that Diane’s giveaway ends tomorrow, April 2, at noon EST. Sorry I didn’t get the word out sooner, but you still have time to hurry over to dkMommy Spot, read her review of this very worthwhile book, and leave a comment to be entered in the drawing.

Good luck!

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By Mom Unplugged, October 23, 2007 8:53 pm

Henryk Goldszmit was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1878. He is better known by his pseudonym, Janusz Korczak (pronounced “Yanoosh Kor-chock”)

Not only did Janusz Korczak become a well-known writer (Korczak even wrote quite a few children’s books that were apparently extremely well-known in their day, including King Matt the First) but he also became a pediatrician so as to better be able to help sick and poor children.

In 1912 he decided to go a step further and became the director of a new Jewish orphanage in Warsaw. He lived in the attic of the building and accepted no salary. He cared lovingly for the children and had a profound belief (which was not at all the mainstream view at the time) that children should be respected and listened to.

In 1939, the Nazis invaded Poland. In 1940, they ordered Korczak’s orphanage to relocate to the Jewish ghetto, which was a deplorable slum filled with disease, starvation and corpses on the streets.

Korczak made daily begging expeditions to obtain food and medicine for the children. He attempted to maintain as normal a life for the children as possible: teaching and playing with them. He also took over a hospital for sick and dying children in his belief that children should die with dignity.

Although encouraged by non-Jewish friends to leave Poland and save himself, and despite being offered many opportunites to escape, he always replied:

“You wouldn’t abandon your own child in sickness, misfortune, or danger, would you? So how can I leave two hundred children now!” (Loving Every Child, p. 82)

You can all see where this terrible tale is headed. On August 5, 1942 Janusz Korczak lead his two hundred children on a parade through the streets to the train station. They carried the orphanage flag designed by Korczak, and each child carried one favorite toy or book. Korczak and his children were taken away in freight cars to Treblinka where they were all sent to the gas chambers.

This was not meant to be a biographical post about Janusz Korczak, but I don’t believe that one can discuss this book Loving Every Child: Wisdom for Parents, without knowing a bit about this remarkable man.

I stumbled upon this book after hearing a March 3rd NPR story about it: Parenting Advice From a Polish Holocaust Hero. I read it cover-to-cover right away, think about it often, and knew I would write about it one day after I was able to digest the enormity of Korczak and his wisdom, as well as write a post about him without crying.

Loving Every Child: Wisdom for Parents is actually a compilation of quotations from some of Korczak’s other works, primarily How to Love a Child (1919) and The Child’s Right to Respect (1929). It is divided into chapters that each cover a very general subject. For example: “Communication,” “A Child Will Play,” and my favorite - “Adults Are Not Very Clever.”

Janusz Korczak was so incredibly ahead of his time. The advice in this book could have been written yesterday. To think that he wrote these words in the early 1900′s just amazes me.

As I mentioned previously, the main theme of the book is respect for the child. Korczak’s keen observations about the interaction between children and adults really make it seem that this man was able to get inside a child’s head and see the world as the child sees it. His sense of empathy and compassion is overwhelming.

This book has profoundly touched me. Although Korczak’s story brings tears to my eyes whenever I think of it, I have to agree with Ari L. Goldman in his Foreword:

“But what I particularly like about this volume is that it takes Korczak’s wisdom about children out of the context of martyrdom. Most people learn about him through exhibits at various museums commemorating the Holocaust. Korczak, of course, deserves a place there. But he especially deserves to be remembered for what he taught us about children and about ourselves.” (Loving Every Child, p. viii)

This is a book to keep on your nightstand and pick up again and again. Even nearly one hundred years later, Korczak’s words serve as a reminder to us all, to listen to and respect our children.

Here are some of my favorite passages from Loving Every Child: Wisdom for Parents (actually, they are ALL my favorites, so it was hard to choose just a few):

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“We plunder the mountains, cut down the trees, and exterminate the animals. More and more the forests and marshes are being replaced by buildings. We are planting human beings in ever new territories.

We have subjugated the world and have made use of the iron and the animals; we have enslaved other races, we have organized international relations in a cursory way and appeased the masses. Injustice and ill treatment prevail. We do not really consider childhood worries and apprehensions as very serious matters.

Any child is an unequivocal democrat and does not recognize any hierarchies. Whether it is another child’s hunger or the agony of a tormented animal, it causes him pain. Dogs, birds, butterflies, and flowers are equally close to his heart, and he feels kinship with each pebble and shell. He does not believe that only humans have souls.” (p.45)

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“The child is small, lightweight, and there is just less of him. We ought to stoop and come down to his level.” (p.20)

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“When is the proper time for a child to start walking? When she does. When should her teeth start cutting? When they do. How many hours should a baby sleep? As long as she needs to.” (p.8)

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“The child never begrudges the time spent reading a story, having a conversation with the dog, playing catch, carefully scrutinizing a picture or retracing a letter.” (p.34)

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You can also read an excerpt from the book at the NPR website.

Photo is of Janusz Korczak circa 1930, courtesy of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. (USHMM - Photograph #65010, courtesy of Międzynarodowe Stowarzyszenie im. Janusza Korczaka)

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By Mom Unplugged, September 12, 2007 9:21 pm

For someone who is supposed to be “unplugged,” I seem to spend quite a bit of time flitting about on Amazon. We have no decent local bookstore (sorry “Bookworm”), and I love books. Even our local library is poorly stocked. So that is my excuse and I am sticking to it!

Anyhow, one of my happy Amazon finds one day was this lovely book: The Sense of Wonder, by Rachel Carson. I wasn’t really sure what to expect from the book, although the description and reviews on Amazon made it sound wonderful.

The text is a republication of a 1956 essay by “ahead of her time” environmental writer Rachel Carson (Essay: “Help Your Child to Wonder,” Woman’s Home Companion magazine, July 1956). In this edition, her inspiring words are accompanied by gorgeous, and often unusual, nature photographs by Nick Kelsh. As the dust jacket flap says: “Kelsh’s camera is drawn to patterns in nature that all too often elude hurried adults…” which is the whole point of Rachel Carson’s essay.

This is a big book (111 pages), but much of it is photography. I was easily able to read the whole thing in bed one night before going to sleep (and believe me, I am so tired at the end of the day that I don’t usually last long, no matter how good the book).

Rachel Carson writes about helping children discover nature, and about rediscovering nature with a childlike sense of wonder as an adult. This wonderful essay is a compilation of Carson’s thoughts about experiencing the world of Maine’s rocky coast with her nephew Roger. As she says:

“If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder…he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in.” (p.55)

Carson speaks much of “feeling” vs. “knowing,” exploring with the senses rather than the intellect. She expresses her philosophy in this wonderful image:

“If facts are the seeds that later produce knowledge and wisdom, then the emotions and the impressions of the senses are the fertile soil in which the seeds must grow. The years of early childhood are the time to prepare the soil.” (p.56)

Another all-too-true lesson from this book is that as adults, we tend not to see that which is available to us every day. We grown-ups lose ourselves in the artificial and mundane. We forget how to really observe and experience the world, and tend to take the nature around us for granted. Because we can see the stars almost every night, we never actually stop to take the opportunity to gaze at the stars! Just as when living near the Grand Canyon, for example, one never goes to visit it.

The next time you “see nature,” even if it is only a bird momentarily alighting on the railing of your city apartment balcony, Ms. Carson urges you to ask yourself:

“What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?” (p.67)

Relearn the observation of the natural world using all your senses. See the beauty and perfection, even in the tiniest of objects. Take a hike in the woods (or your local city park) equipped with only a magnifying glass and an eager child to see what beauty you can find.

I find this book to be so inspirational, every time I read it I want to immediately drop the laundry basket and rush outside with my children! Honestly, I could read it over and over again. It evokes in me the same feelings that I experienced while reading Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s Gift from the Sea(published in 1955). I simply can’t believe that these amazing women wrote these remarkable words fifty years ago.

There are many obvious differences between the two books, but deep down, they convey the same message and have the same peaceful and comforting “feel” about them. How interesting that they were written within one year of each other, both works taking place by the sea in New England, and both authored by extraordinary women. I wish I had a doctoral thesis to write (in all my free time) because I certainly see a fascinating one here.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to any parent, especially those of the Waldorf, Montessori, or home school persuasion. If you are like me, you will want to read it over and over again. If you are still not convinced, then check it out of the library and I bet that after a quick read you will be ready to invest in a hardcover version of your very own.

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By Mom Unplugged, March 7, 2007 11:07 am

Before my first child was born in 2000, my thoughts had already turned to how to raise her. I do believe that much of who we are comes “pre-programmed.” However, as all parents know, it is nonetheless thoroughly daunting to imagine providing a life for another human being. One thing I knew was that I did not want her to become an MTV and video-game obsessed teen, lazy and unable to think and act creatively.

Being an “older Mom” (I hate that term!), I found myself having those fuddy-duddy, “back in my day” type of thoughts. It was in my post-partum turmoil of hormones and angst that I stumbled upon Katrina Kenison’s soothing book Mitten Strings for God: Reflections for Mothers in a Hurry . My unsettled state was fertile ground for the author’s message that simplifying our children’s lives is satisfying and possible. The book left me full of warm fuzzy feelings and encouragement that one can create a simpler family environment.

I was filled anew with determination to raise my daughter more simply: no TV, simpler toys, fewer organized activities. I wanted her to have time to just be a child.

If anyone out there is contemplating these issues for themselves and wants a warm, little boost of encouragement, try this inspirational book. When I feel discouragement setting in, I reach for the “Mitten Strings” and read a chapter or two. That’s usually all it takes to set me right.