FFS Friday - Authentic

First up I have to say a big hello to my beautiful Karen's Mum. Hi Mrs B!

The school year is now officially over. What a year it was. Poor Chai had the worst year of his short schooling life so far. Withdrawing him from school was one of the best things I've ever done. It reminded me how important it is to trust my instincts. I wish I'd done that sooner. If I'd trusted my instincts I would not have sent him to school when he was three, I would have insisted he start the year after. I would also have sent him to the beautiful free range school straight off.

This year taught me how important it is to do what's right for me and my family, not what society and the government say we have to do. We don't have to send our kids to school, we don't have to spend our lives working to pay off a house, we don't have to do anything that doesn't work for us or our family. 

It's easy to get caught up in doing what everyone else does, adapting to societal norms, which is fine if they work for you, but if they don't it's important to do what works for you. As parents it's our duty to do the best for our children, to advocate and fight for them because they can't fight for themselves.

Children are not second class citizens. They have needs and rights just like we do, however society thinks it's okay to treat children badly, in some instances it's even encouraged. If we wouldn't accept certain treatments as adults, then it's not okay to do those things to children.

Our school system is failing our most vulnerable children and yet nothing is being done about it. Naplan results came out last week, in several areas the standards are either worse or stagnant. What's being done about that? It's commonly known that the way we educate our children isn't working and yet nothing is being done to change that. 

We can talk with our choices. We can choose not to send our children to schools where they aren't educated and taught in a manner that works for them. We can discuss our issues with the school, the education department and our local member of parliament. If enough of us do that things will have to change. It's up to us. 

We don't have to blindly follow along. We don't have to do what society tells us to. If we want to be happy and fulfilled we need to walk our own path and speak our own truth. It's okay to be different, it's okay to choose the path less trodden. It's okay to be authentically and unapologetically you.