One of the reasons I homeschool is that kids, left to themselves, reenact scenes from The Lord Of The Flies.

While such behavior is undoubtedly the result of natural primate urges, I still don’t condone it. I certainly won’t encourage it.

I find it somewhat ironic that the kids in regular school environments, be they public or private, who are supposedly so much better socialized than home schooled kids, are in fact much more likely to start this sort of crap than my kid. Perhaps that’s a goal for some parents. I can hear it now. This is “the real world” kids need to “toughen up” and “learn to deal”.

Well, I’d like MY kid to learn to deal with needless cruelty by refusing to participate in it, and walking away from those who engage in it. I’d like her to learn empathy and develop a social conscience. And I don’t think I’m hindering her social development one bit by refusing to allow her to be mean.

And while I’m on a roll about child rearing, I’d like to throw in just one more thing. Child -rearing only works if you pay attention to your kid. Sitting there in a corner assuming your child is behaving well while you chat with your grown-up friends is NOT child rearing. Getting up once in a while to find out if she’s screaming at other children and excluding some from her games, and then forcing her to stop–THAT is parenting.