A Country Called Childhood by Jay Griffiths, Nonfiction (post 3)

I didn't finish the book, but I think that's okay because most of the chapters ultimately say pretty much the same thing; children need more freedom. I agree with that, but sometimes it gets a tad redundant. There are two chapters that really stand out in my mind, and those are the ones I'd like to talk about.
In an earlier post, I mentioned the chapter, "Wolf Milk in the Ink". This chapter explores childrens' relationship to animals and nature. Animals, says Jay Griffiths, are crucial to childrens' happiness. Ever notice how some children are so attached to their stuffed animals? Griffiths has a brother who had a teddy bear when he was a kid that he felt was his guardian. Sometimes when he was having a nightmare, his teddy bear would come into his dream and make it better. The book says that this relationship is actually sort of tragic; stuffed animals are a substitute for the real animals that kids once played so freely with. This chapter has references to Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book; the true story of Victor, a child found living in the woods in France; another true story about a boy named Ivan Mishukov who made friends with a pack of feral dogs; and a movie called The Company of Wolves and the book it's based on. (Look it up.)
Another Chapter that comes to my mind is called "A Clockwork Child". It's about how children are so over scheduled these days. There are people who suggest that children who have a hard time doing things quickly should get dressed with a stopwatch and eat with a timer and do things to fast marching music. Needless to say, Jay Griffiths doesn't like that. Children shouldn't be labeled "lazy" or "dawdling." Having the freedom to decide what to do with your time is also crucial to happiness, Griffiths says. There's a certain calendar you can get called the French Revolutionary Calendar that, instead of calling the months by their official names, calls them things that actually bring the months to mind, and help children get a more healthy concept of time. September is "Fruit". October is "Foggy". December is "Frosty". Every day of the year on that calendar is represented by a tool, a kind of rock, an animal, or a plant. Jay Griffiths has a cat who was born on August 12th, which according to the French Revolutionary Calendar, is the day of the otter. So she named him Otter.

Question #5
A Country Called Childhood is definitely not supposed to be a step-by-step "how to parent" book. The things Griffiths talks about can be very controversial. She thinks children should eat when they're hungry and sleep when they're tired. She romanticizes children swearing and helping their parents with poaching, but it's all in context.

I would love to do question #6, but there are so many interesting passages in A Country Called Childhood that I could never decide which one to use. Anyway, it's hard to concentrate like that with my parents and brother arguing loudly the way they've been.

Question#7
One praise for A Country Called Childhood said that it will make you re-think your own childhood. I don't know about other people, but it certainly made me think more about mine. When I have a lot of homework and I start thinking that schools should not be allowed to give kids this much work, I used to call myself a whiner. Now I wonder if these feelings just might be justified.