Desires and Expectations
Are desires good? What about expectations? Are these about control? Can our expectations lead to disappointment and spoil our family celebrations? Should we burden our kids with our expectations? Do our worries and concerns affect our kids’ confidence? Should the only expectation we have is that they’ll be okay?
Challenges
Should we set our kids’ challenges to ensure they work hard? Or is better to give them space to set their own? Do we need to challenge ourselves too?
Books
Do people judge us on our book choices? Can sharing the books we’re reading lead to some stimulating unschooling conversations?
The Santa Myth
Is it wrong to pretend Santa brings gifts to our kids? Is that lying? Should we eliminate Santa from our Christmas celebrations? Or is it possible to include the magic of Santa with the true meaning of the season?
2023
What were the highs and lows of my year? Does blogging about our kids lead to problems? Should adults make time for their passions and interests? Can we feel lost when our kids grow up? How do we move on? What do we do while we’re working out what to do next? Is it important we’re successful in a big way?
I discuss all these questions in episode 204 of my Stories of an Unschooling Family podcast: Santa, Books and Expectations.
Stories
I’m also sharing a couple of stories.
The first one is about books, people’s opinions, and the difficulties of parenting: Is it Risky to Share Our Book Collections? What Will People Think?
And the second story is about the Santa myth and family traditions from my book, The Unschool Challenge.
Episode 204
An End of the Year Challenge
If you have a copy of my book, The Unschool Challenge, you could end your 2023 by doing Challenge 75: Write an End-of-the-Year Review.
Photos
These beautiful Christmas with the little dog photos are from the KaboomPics website.
So, What Do You Think?
How was your 2023? Did you set yourself any challenges? Would you like to join in with my 2024 book reading challenge? We could try to read at least 52 books during the year. Maybe we could discuss some of them.
Do you ever have unrealistic expectations for your Christmas and other celebrations? Does your Christmas include Santa? And what are you hoping to find when you tear off the wrappings of your Christmas gifts? What do you desire, but not necessarily expect, to receive?
This is the last episode of my podcast for 2023. I’ll be back towards the end of January 2024 with a new one!
