Any substance that can lead to maltreatment of a child, can only be judged as a basic human rights malfunction. You can't have part time parents. Whoever your parents are they are your parents for life. No matter what your treatment is under the supervision of your parents, so we have a system that removes a child that is in a relationship of part time parenting, from illicit drugs and alcoholism.

Dear Antiseptic,

I can't understand your apparent refusal to accept
that fact that the law is simply there to protect
the abuse and mistreatment of children. It doesn't
mean that under normal circumstances parents don't have
the right to make decisions about how they bring up their
children. If you take your child on the road and the
child should be in school, then yes, the law may interfere
with your decision - depending on the circumstances.
Of course as a responsible parent -
you could always take your child on the road -
during school holidays - there's many of them during the
course of a year - that would not interfere with your
child's schooling.

Anyway, I know this is going to be another fruitless
discussion with you. I suspect this thread is another
excuse for you to vent your spleen regarding family
law courts decisions and you're using "parental rights"
merely as an excuse.

I'll leave you to it.

Hi Lexi,

Yes, but you see, your thought is constructed to fit a certain paradigm. Would it ever cross your mind that a child would probably learn much much more in travelling around the countryside for several months than s/he would learn boxed up inside four walls in a collective environment without one-on-one attention?

We're conditioned to believe that "education" only takes place in schools.

Dear Poirot,

I totally disagree with you. I have relatives who
follow the "alternative" route of education - and
while I grant you that some parents may well have
the discipline to be excellent teachers to their
children and teach them many things - from experience
this is extremely rare and the child misses out on
a great deal in the basics. Certainly parents should
and do supplement and add to their child's education
with what the schools provide. This is the best of
both worlds but I certainly do not approve that this
should take the place of a set curriculum as provided
by the schools. It may also cause a lack of subjects
when wanting to enter university at a later date.
The child may also have problems fitting into a
more structured system.

As I stated earlier - take the child on the road,
or anywhere else you care to - that's what holidays are for.
And by all means supplement your child's education - but
totally replace it with what you've got on offer? - no
with that I don't agree - and its not a result of any
sort of "conditioning," it comes from experience when
dealing with schools and children of all age groups.

But hey - that's only my opinion. I respect your "right"
to disagree.

See you on another thread.

Lexi, you mentioned the Family Law, not me. You seem to find this topic very difficult. Perhaps it is best you find something less challenging to "think" about, since you're obviously unable to find the appropriate labels to apply to this and it's doing your head in.

See you on another thread.

I still haven't heard anyone point out a single "right" applying to parents. Surely if the magistrate used the word he did so with some specific meaning in mind?

Lexi,

I see you're not a great fan of children getting the gist of independent and self-directed learning in their formative years. It seems to me that schools are designed to redirect a child's instinctive talent for directing their own inquiries and replacing it with compartmentalised "subject-based" dictatorial "learning"....more of a "thall shall learn this" theme.

Most children, with a bit of guidance, are capable of following their nose in a way that connects their learning, allowing them to absorb and apply information instead of just memorising it.

Anyway, there's no point in arguing the point here. I'll finish with a quote from George Bernard Shaw which is pertinent to the subject:

"What we want is to see the child in pursuit of knowledge, and not knowledge in pursuit of the child."