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Does Laziness Exist? Saani Bennett, 2022 I love this article: Laziness Does Not Exist by Devon Price. It talks a lot about tertiary and secondary education, but it's relevant for all ages (including adults) in life. I think that most people aren't lazy, but may have unseen or unknown (sometimes to themselves, sometimes to others) barriers to accomplishing things. I wish this was something that all teachers understood. Some do, of course, but there are a lot of children with barriers to accomplishing certain things that aren't apparent. Whether it's anxiety, feeling ashamed to ask for help, feeling incompetent or not good enough, finding the classroom environment challenging to work in, worrying about any number of things, lack of motivation or seeing the relevance, learning challenges - or any number of other things, often barriers aren't noticeable and kids seem fine. When kids (or people) seem like they're fine and yet aren't doing something that they apparently should be, people often assume they're being lazy. If they're okay, why can't they do it? It's also worth noting for both school and life, that just because someone can do something SOMETIMES, doesn't mean they can do it all the time. I think that when people can do something on some occasions when they can't do it, people assume they're lazy or just not trying hard enough. If you did it that time, why can't you do it this time? Are there some people who are just lazy though? I don't know. But I think that unless we know someone's mental health, physical health, childhood and background, life experiences, family history (intergenerational trauma is a real thing), etc in real depth, perhaps it's best to extend the benefit of the doubt. I also think that we live in a society that has most people convinced that to rest is lazy. I recall a conversation with someone once who said she wished she didn't have to work at her job, but if she had enough money to live on from another source she would choose to quit her job because she's a lazy person. I asked her, "if you had enough money to live on without needing a job - and you chose not to have a job, would you stop caring for and doing all the gazillions of things involved with having 3 children? Would you stop coaching your son's basketball team as a volunteer? Would you stop volunteering at your church, or helping out at school, or taking care of the house and garden, your extended family, helping friends, and so on?" The answer was "of course not." So a mum caring for 3 kids, a husband, a house, extended family, friends, volunteering with school, church and sport feels she is lazy for not working full-time ON TOP of all that???? It's crazy. I had similar conversations with other people who are permanently exhausted but felt they would be lazy to stop or take a break or if they weren't working so much. Or people felt that they were lazy if they couldn't do everything they wanted/expected themselves to do, or were expected to do by others due to mental or physical health barriers... Are there some people who are really just lazy? Maybe. I don't know. I think if there are, there are far, far fewer than we think. Was this article helpful? Was it worth $1.00 to you? Your gift of $1 or more helps to keep this site operating offering encouragement and reassurance to families wanting better outcomes for their children. Beverley Paine with her children, and their home educated children, relaxing at home. Together with the support of my family, my aim is to help parents educate their children in stress-free, nurturing environments. In addition to building and maintaing this website, I continue to create and manage local and national home educating networks, help to organise conferences and camps, as well as write for, edit and produce newsletters, resource directories and magazines. I am an active supporter of national, state, regional and local home education groups.
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and Learning without School! We began educating our children in 1985, when our eldest was five. In truth, we had helped them learn what they need to learn since they were born. I am a passionate advocate of allowing children to learn unhindered by unnecessary stress and competition, meeting developmental needs in ways that suit their individual learning styles and preferences. Ours was a homeschooling, unschooling and natural learning family! There are hundreds of articles on this site to help you build confidence as a home educating family. We hope that your home educating adventure is as satisfying as ours was! Beverley Paine
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