Of Children

The Barefoot Book of children takes its readers on a visual trek across the globe, where they discover that--despite our different clothes and homes and languages--we are more alike than different.

Organized into three sections--appropriately titled "Beginning," "Middle," and "End"--the 14 stories in this collection approach the complexities of being human during those three distinct but interdependent stages of life. The author combines emotional depth and literary appeal to view the world through the eyes of children, the sorrow and ecstasies of child-bearing years, and the culmination of life in old age. Skillfully woven together, the narratives give an array of views through a medley of fascinating characters that include a girl who discovers a fear of heights as her parents' marriage unravels, a 30-something venture fund manager at odds with his daughter's paternity, an orphan accused of homophobia whose hands kill whatever they touch, and a mother of two who can only bear to consider abortion in the second person. Through an eclectic array of tales, this provocative anthology acknowledges that the world can be a very dark place while simultaneously longing for redemption through children.

In The Book of Children: Supporting the Freedom and Intelligence of a New Generation, one of the twentieth century’s greatest spiritual teachers shares how parents can develop positive and encouraging relationships with their kids. “Look into the eyes of a child—you cannot find anything deeper. The eyes of a child are an abyss, there is no bottom to them.”—Osho Children have an authentic freedom. They are joyful, playful, and naturally creative. But by the time they grow up, most children have been sacrificed to the gods of “productivity” and good behavior to the extent that only nostalgia for childhood remains. Osho says, “It is the child’s experience that haunts intelligent people their whole life. They want it again—the same innocence, the same wonder, the same beauty.” And while each adult generation may vow, with the best of intentions, not to repeat the mistakes of the past, they inevitably find themselves imposing their own inherited limitations on new generations to come. This book calls for a “children’s liberation movement” to break through old patterns and create opportunities for an entirely new way of relating as human beings. It is a guide for grown-ups to become aware of their own conditioning as they relate to the children in their lives. And, with that awareness, to learn when to nurture and protect and when to get out of the way, so that children can flower into their highest potential and greatest capacity for joy. Osho challenges readers to examine and break free of the conditioned belief systems and prejudices that limit their capacity to enjoy life in all its richness. He has been described by the Sunday Times of London as one of the “1000 Makers of the 20th Century” and by Sunday Mid-Day (India) as one of the ten people—along with Gandhi, Nehru, and Buddha—who have changed the destiny of India. Since his death in 1990, the influence of his teachings continues to expand, reaching seekers of all ages in virtually every country of the world.

The year is 2021. No child has been born for twenty-five years. The human race faces extinction. Under the despotic rule of Xan Lyppiat, the Warden of England, the old are despairing and the young cruel. Theo Faren, a cousin of the Warden, lives a solitary life in this ominous atmosphere. That is, until a chance encounter with a young woman leads him into contact with a group of dissenters. Suddenly his life is changed irrevocably as he faces agonising choices which could affect the future of mankind. NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE

Phillip Moore's book The Future of Children describes the work of an innovative independent school in Michigan and the principles of a love-based education. This book grew out of over four decades of direct experience with children who have been educated in a school that was based on love. These children have grown up to be very different kinds of people. Their direct connection to the natural world has influenced them to feel a deep connection with life. Their sensory rich education has given them a life long love for creativity, for doing and making things of beauty and function. Their abilities to collaborate with others has given them the direct experience of accomplishing projects that live beyond the possibility of an individual. Their ability to do their own thinking and to be in love with life long learning has given them the confidence to live in a world of shifting complexity and deep uncertainty. The lessons and the stories of this school provide us with insights and the creative inspiration that will fuel new ways of teaching and new ways of learning. This book is essential for parents and educators who are dedicated to shifting from the dominant industrial (failing) educational paradigm to a new paradigm that is based on love, trust, and deep inter-connection.

More than one million American children are schooled by their parents. As their ranks grow, home schoolers are making headlines by winning national spelling bees and excelling at elite universities. The few studies conducted suggest that homeschooled children are academically successful and remarkably well socialized. Yet we still know little about this alternative to one of society's most fundamental institutions. Beyond a vague notion of children reading around the kitchen table, we don't know what home schooling looks like from the inside. Sociologist Mitchell Stevens goes behind the scenes of the homeschool movement and into the homes and meetings of home schoolers. What he finds are two very different kinds of home education--one rooted in the liberal alternative school movement of the 1960s and 1970s and one stemming from the Christian day school movement of the same era. Stevens explains how this dual history shapes the meaning and practice of home schooling today. In the process, he introduces us to an unlikely mix of parents (including fundamentalist Protestants, pagans, naturalists, and educational radicals) and notes the core values on which they agree: the sanctity of childhood and the primacy of family in the face of a highly competitive, bureaucratized society. Kingdom of Children aptly places home schoolers within longer traditions of American social activism. It reveals that home schooling is not a random collection of individuals but an elaborate social movement with its own celebrities, networks, and characteristic lifeways. Stevens shows how home schoolers have built their philosophical and religious convictions into the practical structure of the cause, and documents the political consequences of their success at doing so. Ultimately, the history of home schooling serves as a parable about the organizational strategies of the progressive left and the religious right since the 1960s.Kingdom of Children shows what happens when progressive ideals meet conventional politics, demonstrates the extraordinary political capacity of conservative Protestantism, and explains the subtle ways in which cultural sensibility shapes social movement outcomes more generally.

Why does the city of Reggio Emilia in northern Italy feature one of the best public systems of early education in the world? This book documents the comprehensive and innovative approach that utilizes the "hundred languages of children" to support their well-being and foster their intellectual development. Educators in Reggio Emilia, Italy, use a distinctive innovative approach that supports children's well-being and fosters their intellectual development through a systematic focus on symbolic representation. From birth through age six, young children are encouraged to explore their environment and express their understanding through many modes of expression or "languages," including verbal communication, movement, drawing, painting, sculpture, shadow play, collage, and music. This organic strategy has been shown to be highly effective, as the children in Reggio Emilia display surprising examples of symbolic skill and creativity. This book describes how the world-renowned preschool services and accompanying practical strategies for children under six in Reggio Emilia have evolved in response to the community's demographic and political transformations, and to generational changes in both the educators and the parents of the children. The authors provide the reader with a comprehensive introduction to the Reggio Emilia experience, and address three of the most important central themes of the work in Reggio in detail: teaching and learning through relationships; the hundred languages of children, and how this concept has evolved; and integrating documentation into the process of observing, reflecting, and communicating.

This book highlights assessment techniques, issues, and procedures that appeal to practicing clinicians. Rather than a comprehensive Handbook of various tests and measures, The Clinical Assessment of Children and Adolescents is a practitioner-friendly text that provides guidance for test selection, interpretation, and application. With topics ranging from personality assessment to behavioral assessment to the assessment of depression and thought disorder, the leaders in the field of child and adolescent measurement outline selection and interpretation of measures in a manner that is most relevant to clinicians and graduate students. Each chapter makes use of extensive case material in order to highlight issues of applicability.