"No reading at the breakfast table"

I'm always motivated to read parenting books when I'm in a new stage of parenting.  This stage is brought to you by my first teenage girl.  I didn't love being a teenage girl.  Admittedly I did have a lot of upheaval during that stage of my life - I changed countries when I was 15 and then changed school/church/house another couple of times before I finished school.  I found it very hard.  But it wasn't just that.  It's a hard stage physically and emotionally anyway.  I have a lot of love for teenage girls.  They are not necessarily easy to live with (ahem - bit of an understatement ...) but I feel their pain! So last term I read Steve Biddulph's new book 'Raising Girls' (2013).  There was a lot in it that was familiar because he goes through each stage and I've been through most of them a few times now. But I'll just share with a few things that I found helpful as I think through how to help my girls negotiate this pretty tricky stage....

Wow - schooling!  Arrgh - why do I do it to myself?!  I've asked myself this a lot over the past week or so after my last post on public schooling had a massive response.  I've asked myself this because I have felt bad for having an opinion.  Having an opinion that not everyone will agree with.  Having an opinion on something that is so personal (it's almost rating up there with the no-go zones of religion/money/politics hey?).  Having an opinion that might unsettle people and make them a bit grumpy at me. But even though I've felt quite vulnerable at times (and regretful at times too - life is a lot simpler when you keep things to yourself), I'm glad that it resulted in some good discussion. Why is the discussion worth it? Because I want to believe that we can dialogue well in the midst of difference. That we can affirm each other in different ways of parenting, in different ways of schooling, in different ways of being a mum. What I am keen to se...