A Child Draws Her Own Boundaries

This evening Beezy was playing on the porch with her new kitten, who is still very tiny.  A group of much younger children were out for a walk with their mother, and of course they were very interested in this pet!  But Beezy told me she wanted the kids to go, and she locked the screen door.  I knew she was feeling protective and overwhelmed by all the little hands wanting to touch the kitty.  I know this because I know her, but I asked her about it later, and she confirmed my intuition.  I didn't judge her reaction or her need to do what she saw fit to solve the problem at hand.  I understood and acknowledged the disappointment of the other children to their mother, but I didn't feel the need to fix anyone's feelings, not my daughter's, or the other children's, or the other adult's.  I simply observed.

Beezy set her own boundaries, met her own needs.  If she had asked me for additional help, of course I would have stepped in.  Later when we had come in from outside, she immediately wanted to go back out and do more chalk drawing.  I said, "If you need to draw some more, then do so!"  It was such a good feeling in both these instances to experience radical unschooling principles at work, to witness my own growth, and to be amazed.