It may be surprising, though perhaps not to those who have been engaged in residential child care, that it is a vocation which has inspired some of the most original and creative thinking about the healthy nurture of children. One such thinker is the controversial, and for a number of people, the outrageous American Homer Lane who came to England in 1913 to take over the “Little Commonwealth.” Readers may find it fruitful, even if they are ambivalent about its implications, to think about this, one of his many ideas about childhood.
When suggesting that adults should withdraw from their pedestal of authority and allow children to sort out their own difficulties in an environment of encouragement and freedom, he proposed,
“ Freedom cannot be given. It is taken by children and demands the privilege of conscious wrong-doing.”
Lane believed that adults should nurture children’s instinct to play and allow children the time and space to run wild and free with their friends. He thought that we should respect the nature of childhood play and its unconscious, yet fundamental purpose, that is, to help children grow healthily.
Reference
Lane, H. (1928) Talks to Parents and Teachers London Allen and Unwin
Recommended reading
Wills, W. David. Homer Lane: A Biography , London, Allen & Unwin, 1964
First posted on the www.goodenoughcaring.com home page on December 3rd, 2010
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