# radical parenting article (long but great!)



## MamaFern (Dec 13, 2003)

i was checking out a sister site called girl-mom and i found this great article on radical parenting.. i wanted to share it with all of you MDC mommas..so here goes..

From:http://familypride.uwo.ca/articles/transgressing.html

FAMILY PRIDE CANADA PARENTING WITH PRIDE ARTICLE
Available by permission of copyright owner: August 2002
Mama Work: Transgressing Toward The Future

By: T.J. Bryan aka Tenacious

My friend and fellow radical mama Anacaona pointed out to me recently that there is a big difference between alternative parenting and radical parenting.

Alternative parenting is natural childbirth, refusing to vaccinate, birthing children at home, breast feeding past six months, same sex parenting using the nuclear family model, parenting in groups, etc.

Radical or transgressive parenting can involve any or all of the above. But where you can always locate a staunch right wing, politically and socially conservative faction among people practicing elements of alternative parenting, radical parenting is solely the domain of the left minded, the politically radical, the conscious shit disturbers.....

© August 2002

to read the whole article go to the link above.


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## fourgrtkidos (Jan 6, 2004)

thanks, Michelle









I especially like #4,5,9,10,15,16, and 19. You rock. Maybe there shhould be a militant mamas coalition in Melbourne, Fl!!!


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## grisandole (Jan 11, 2002)

Wow, great! Thanks for posting!


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## Nicole77 (Oct 20, 2003)

Thanks for the awesome article. I wish I knew some of the "militant mamas" in Western Mass. There must be some! Regardless it was cool to read a like-minded viewpoint!


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## asherah (Nov 25, 2001)

I love this, thank you.


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## green betty (Jun 13, 2004)

Yahoo!

Especially the gender-bendy bits. The extreme genderification of baby clothes sure proves how important putting a human being in a gender box is to our culture! Well, it isn't to me and folks can just learn to deal. I'm thinking about refusing to answer the question and say, "It's a person!"


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## *Erin* (Mar 18, 2002)

awesome, i love this. thank you for posting!


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## kaimama (Jul 21, 2003)

Thanks for sharing this!


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## Skim (Jan 2, 2004)

Woo Hoo!

Sisters, my sisters! Feel the love! Now I'm pumped to work on my zine. Thank you, mamafern.

OK... back to our regularly scheduled activism forum.


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## MamaFern (Dec 13, 2003)

my pleasure!


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## PurpleBasil (Jan 28, 2004)

Wow! I LOVE THIS!

especially #13...got to put that institution out.

thank you for sharing this!


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## PurpleBasil (Jan 28, 2004)

bump


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## IslandMamma (Jun 12, 2003)

Thanks for bumping... missed this the first time around.

Mamafern, did you make it to the mama gathering in Mpl? (Sadly, we didn't go..)


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## MamaFern (Dec 13, 2003)

QUOTE:

re:Radical parenting article post

"Internet copyright laws only allow up to 100 words to be quoted from an article unless you have permission from the author to post it in its entirety.

I am sorry but you will need to edit the quote down to a 100 words blurb with the link."

Thanks
Jessica
__________________
My other sig would have offended you.








so.. i just got this private message and i feel really weird about it..because despite what "internet copyright" laws are.. im sure that the woman who wrote this wants it to be shared. why else would a woman write something of this nature. i dont know.... i feel like mothering is the one place that i can speak freely about what i believe in and now i feel that hand slowly creeping over my mouth. i dont like it. im not sure what i should do. i think id rather let them delete this thread than to edit this down myself. but i dont want to cause trouble either..any suggestions from you other radical mommas.. ?

love and rage, fern


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## Skim (Jan 2, 2004)

Difficult conundrum, for sure. While I am personally against copyright laws, I do follow Mothering's rules because they are strict around here and I don't like my stuff messed with. I can speak my mind but I just dont post other people's minds. I know, I know, I agree with you about the intention of the other author, but isn't there something in the User Agreement about anything we post in mothering.com being property of Mothering? And if this is the case, our posts aren't even really OURS. (OK, here's the text from the rules: "Posts become the property of MotheringDotCommune as an integral part of discussion threads.")

Take all that for what you will. My experience here is that it's all about the money here at Mothering. (In addition to the helpful advice of others) And no, that's NOT a criticism of the actions of the mods or administrator....

(which is against the rules, too. Here's what it says we must avoid: "Posting to debate or criticize the MDC User Agreement, or to otherwise discuss the moderators, administrators, or their actions. Constructive criticism and questions for purposes of clarification may be sent through the Private Message feature or by email to the moderator or administrator.") So be careful you don't dis them too much if you want to be heard. Or just chuck it all and screw it. We know what you mean!









Kim


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## DaryLLL (Aug 12, 2002)

MamaFern









Just edit it down to a paragraph or so. We have the link. People here read links.

It isn't censorship. Just the law.


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## kavamamakava (Aug 25, 2004)

haha #3 is hilarious. confuse people about the gender of your child. lol


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## 1jooj (Apr 8, 2002)

I, in fact, followed the link before scrolling down to see you'd pasted the whole thing. Truly, it's better.

Oh--time for me to start "acting like a suck." I need some me time.


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## sadie_sabot (Dec 17, 2002)

thanks for this!

I actually followed the link so i could print the article--reding too much online makes my body hurt. So yeah, maybe include the paragrah most likely to catch folks' eye?

here's what i wonder. Tenacious' kid must be about three by now. i toally wonder how she's managing. 'cause i am very very politically active, and I'm finding that, contrary to my expectations, it was a lot *easier* for me to do political stuff (be it meeting, writing, or protests) with dd in tow when she was a babe. I could just sling her along, nd as long as had a boob available when needed, we did ok. Now, she's a toddler and she's got her own ideas about things, so i find that I can't actually do much while I'm with her, which of course means I have muchless time to do stuff, since being with her is a priority.

anyone else experience this sort of thing?


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## MamaFern (Dec 13, 2003)

thanks kim and everyone else who responded. i guess i took the whole thing too personally.. i just hate rules.. i mean, i didnt think that posting this would hurt anyone..and as long as no harm is done then why not be free to post whatever?! but rules are rules and i suppose if i dont like the rules of mothering o should just stop visiting this site altogether. its sad though. because there are so many great folks on here and so much information.but sadly, like you said, kim, it all comes down to money .. i hate that so much in our world is dictated by this concept of money and cost and profit. it just makes me soo mad! and sad. and then thankful that the love i have for my son has nothing to do with any of that.. love is the only truly free thing left. so love and be loved as much as you can.


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## Skim (Jan 2, 2004)

mamafern,


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## majazama (Aug 2, 2003)

Thanks for the link, fern! I definately consider myself a radical momma now, after reading that. I didn't really know what it meant before, as I've alays been into the "alternative" stuff.

TAKIN IT TO THE MAN!!!


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