circle A mamas

[spitbath]

any anarchist/radical or otherwise punk activist parents here in the forums? it would be great to get reading recommendations, talk more about having kids in community, or otherwise make friends.

recently i got a copy of China Martens' 'The Future Generation'. awesome stuff.

[aidenjacob]

Let kids learn things on their own and we should refrain them as much as possible from things like activism and so on .

[boigrrrlwonder]

Originally Posted by aidenjacob

Let kids learn things on their own and we should refrain them as much as possible from things like activism and so on .

I personally choose to talk to my kid about these kinds of things, even though she's only two. If I'm not sharing my beliefs with her, then the larger culture teaches her about these things (capitalism, racism, etc...) - and often these messages are not messages I want her to learn.

[spitbath]

Originally Posted by aidenjacob

Let kids learn things on their own and we should refrain them as much as possible from things like activism and so on .

i disagree. i see bringing children up in community [whether that be a church, an activist community, etc.] as a way to reunite them with a sort of tribal family group system, as opposed to our fragmented modern culture. as parents, i think we have a responsibility to live our lives with our children as we see them fitted to our ideals and principles, to hand those down to our kids.

that said, i agree that you can't make your kids think one way or the other. you can't turn them into little proteges that mimic everything you do. all you can do is give them the tools to think critically and make responsible choices based on respect of themselves, others, and their environment.

[Lizafava]

there are a few of us here, seems like most radical parents have gone away from MDC. Doesn't seem like there is a home for anarchist parents on the internets. I know many circle a parents (me included) who are online now soooooo much more now that they have little ones.

Having kids has really challenged my notions of community an activism, if this thread sticks around I'll write more later.

[spitbath]

Originally Posted by Lizafava

there are a few of us here, seems like most radical parents have gone away from MDC. Anarchist threads unfortunately get shut-down too - there was one in Finding your tribe I think awhile back, but I guess there is some rule about not having groups based on politics? Seemed pretty silly, but there you go. I guess if you can't have a "democrats" tribe you can't have an "anti-capitalists" tribe. Doesn't seem like there is a home for anarchist parents on the internets. I know many circle a parents (me included) who are online now soooooo much more now that they have little ones.

Having kids has really challenged my notions of community an activism, if this thread sticks around I'll write more later.

well, it got approved so i think we're allowed.
i've been having some trouble finding up to date sites for mamas, too. mostly i've been reading a lot of zines on the subject of anarchist parenting, but again, they don't necessarily provide the community that you find in a forum. Mamaphonic was a great site for this, but it seems to have slowed down over the past few years. maybe this is something to explore.... especially if you know a lot of people in need of an online A community.
let's talk!

[AdinaL]

You are allowed here. However a couple of cautions...please keep the debate out of it. This is a debate-free forum.

And secondly, please keep the criticism of the mods/admin off the boards. If you disagree with something, then please PM the mod/admin about it. Putting that stuff on the boards just means threads get closed.

Otherwise, have a good conversation!

[Lizafava]

Okay Adina, I edited my post. I really didn't mean to be as critical as that sounded. I'm all about keeping i cool.

Anyway. Rad Dad was a great zine for radical dads .... there were a few issues recently. I honestly haven;t read much since, except back issues of old radical mama zines. Seems like HipMama was a good place on the web until the boards got shut-down. It was/is a blog/social networking site now which isn't really my style.

So, we moved to a new city shortly before having kids and never really got plugged into the anarchist scene here. We are older than most of the punk and radical kids here - it didn't feel right. And after we had kids it felt even weirder. Meanwhile, we have built what feels like real community with people who are mostly not anarchists. Some folks I never would have been friends with before. But everyone with kids.

Now that one of the kids is getting out of babyhood, I'm thinking more about how important it is to me to be part of radical culture and politics. A couple radical mamas in town have meanwhile had kids, so it feels better and less "youth culture" to me. I've joined a collective, and that feels great. I guess I just feel like so much of anarchist activism in this country *is* about youth culture, and its easy to lose your sense of community when you are suddenly not young and cool. yk?

So I am feeling challenged and good about where we are right now. I thought I would be more like "I am super grrrrrradical mama" but it turned ou that parenting these early years was more about getting through the day for me, just like everyone else

How has everyone else fared the transition? Maybe its just us, lol.

[spitbath]

i haven't gone through a real transition yet [still in 1st trim.] but DP and i still relate to the 'youth culture' about the radical scene [i'm 21, he's 22] i'm expecting somewhat of a separation once the babe arrives. i guess i'm not really sure exactly what to expect we don't have the kind of community here that we did when we were living in denver, so i guess we'll see. it would be cool to try to create some radical culture in our town that was inclusive of children from the start, since we're kind of working from a blank slate. we moved back to our hometown and know a bunch of people who really love this place and are interested in doing radical things..

our free school here is in it's very beginning stages, and we could probably do something really great with that. it would be cool to keep this thread going! i'm definitely not interested in discourse on theory [there are other spaces on the web for that] but just about creating community!! :

[anarchamama]

Ohhhh! I'm here. We live in a pretty radical city and even here thigs are only a little kid friendly. We have been so busy with all three that we have (mostly) dropped out of the scene. The only really activisty thing we do anymore is IWW.

I have been making inroads into the homeschool comminuty with some success but it's really not a very radical community. And while there are 1/2 dozen A homeschooling families, no one seems interested in a more structured community (go figure).

I'de love an online space to discuss these things. Do people know about the A-parenting listserve?

HEather

[Lizafava]

Since I subbed I just got the email that heather posted. Hi!

I think our summer is going to be great - we are at a radical urban farm nearly everyday which is great for the kids. Its a very kid-oriented collective! I think on the days when everyone is there there are three babies and four older kids and only about 5 adults. So I think we have found our place for now.

I think maybe I have had to reorient myself in radical culture. I don;t want to do all the dangerous angry stuff I did before. Farming is more up my alley now, lol.

[spitbath]

Originally Posted by anarchamama

Ohhhh! I'm here. We live in a pretty radical city and even here thigs are only a little kid friendly. We have been so busy with all three that we have (mostly) dropped out of the scene. The only really activisty thing we do anymore is IWW.

I have been making inroads into the homeschool comminuty with some success but it's really not a very radical community. And while there are 1/2 dozen A homeschooling families, no one seems interested in a more structured community (go figure).

I'de love an online space to discuss these things. Do people know about the A-parenting listserve?

HEather

i'm on the listserv!!

my husb and i have been talking about seeking out more tribal community in the future, but in our small town, there are a few parents here that would be potentially interested in a childcare co-op. it's totally exciting!

let's keep this thread going!!

[oceane]

subbing. we are ttc and I'd be glad to follow this thread along and bounce ideas. I am not in any type of community right now.

[tbone_kneegrabber]

Hey folks,

Saw this thread on the main page and thought I would chime in.

We live in a co-op house which is part of a land trust so that is a nice aspect for having "community." Ds is the only kid currently in our house, but others are looking into adoption which would be great to have more kids in the house.

I feel like for the past few years, even before ds was born, I was more disconnected from the larger "anarchist" scene, although are local scene has always had tons of old heads around which is nice.

I don't really know what I have to add at the moment, ds is in the bath I should get back to him and dp.

[oceane]

just bumping this up, since I'd like to know if any of you have specific reading recommendations on radical parenting and/or children's books that are not necessarily political but also not quite regular? thanks!