Freedom is paramount to child development if they are to be successful independent adults
Some parents are overbearing while others fail to implement strict boundaries. Finding a balance presents immense difficulty. A parent that is too strict is like putting a growing bonsai tree inside of a closed cardboard box. And giving too much freedom will cause your son to grow wild, unpruned, and untamed.
We will explore some areas where freedom can provide your son with room to grow.
Scheduling
Structure nurtures discipline. Without structure, your son will move about his day haphazardly and unfocused. Not much will be accomplished. Idle time will be filled with nonsense and degradation.
You may be inclined to create a schedule for your son but I would advise you to allow him to participate in the creation of this.
I would first make it an assignment for him to complete (create your daily schedule).
Allot about 20 minutes for him to do this and set a timer for exactitude. Analyze the tools he used. Did he use a computer or paper? What software did he use if he used a computer?
Seeing what your son is capable of can reveal his current trajectory of growth. Seeing how he structured his schedule will reveal his desires and personality traits.
Provide him with the variables, such as subjects, breaks, and time limits.
After your analysis of his work, start to improve and polish his schedule. Show him what makes sense, what does not, and why. Expose him to scheduling software and Google Sheets to give him the IT skills he'll need for our technology-driven society.
Subject Matter
Traditional schooling fails our sons by treating them like one-size-fits-all.
Various personality types, learning styles, strengths, weaknesses, and interests are shoved into the same curriculum. Some of our best minds are discouraged from learning because a style does not fit them.
Then they are told they are not performing well when they "underachieve." But it is the school that is failing THEM and you.
When you begin homeschooling ask your son what he wants to learn.
Build the curriculum around his interests. Of course, you must instruct him in the ways of math, language arts, and tech but the brain retains more information when the subject matter is of interest to the individual.
You may find that your son is more interested in working with his hands as opposed to generic academia. He might be more suited for robotics and engineering.
By starting specialization early he has an edge over his peers. His peers will graduate and not know what they want to be and then choose the dreaded Liberal Arts major that produces dim-witted communists in university.
However, your son will have something that is not offered in schools. A SKILL. What can your son do? What can he build or create? Academia is insufficient. A man with a marketable skill is more important to the economy than one with good grades.
Failing
On the other side of failure is understanding. No matter how hard to try you cannot warn your son of every pitfall life comes with. In fact, some things you will warn him about he will proceed with anyway.
Let him fall so he and learn to stand.
Parents naturally worry but often become consumed by fear.
It is better to be consumed with optimism than with fear.
We tell the toddlers, don't do this and don't do that. There are so many boundaries created by fear.
You cannot defeat a child's curiosity; feed it.
Let that child touch that hot food. A burn will be a better teacher of temperature than you could ever be.
But what comes of the boys who have had limited barriers during their development years?
One could guess that these boys will believe that the world is their clam as they become young adults. They will view authority as something to be challenged, which is good.
Boys who challenge authority become explorers, pioneers, and tastemakers. They think outside of the cube.
With limited restrictions, they second guess themselves less than those burdened with high amounts of authority. When a child becomes accustomed to hearing "no" they may find this response acceptable in their adult years.
In business, a man must often understand the word "no" as "not yet" in many cases.
"Never take no for answer," is the mantra of a man with limited restrictions.
Let's build limitless men!
