by Janne Campbell
As I write, the land I live on with 31 other adults and 11 kids is bursting with fecundity.
The first wild greens: miner’s lettuce, nettles and dandelion have all set seed as a riot of poppies, pea blossoms and tiny sets of apples in the orchard portend a summer of deliciously slow collective tasks.
Long, warm days where circles move outdoors, as does the laundry to dry, all to the music of children playing, plotting, negotiating and disagreeing.
These are the sights and sounds of the childhood we wished for our children.
And, within each of our homes is what can’t be seen from our magnificent commons: my partner and I are still tired and stressed. A child is feeling excluded from group play. All the community kids go to school and your homeschooler is bored and lonely. A member with a history of anger issues yelled at a child and some want him to leave.
These are the peaks and valleys we traverse when endeavoring to raise children collectively.
Amy, Jessica and I are delighted to be exploring this territory with you in the upcoming Raising Children in Community course.
Find out why, despite the messiness and perpetual discomfort of it all, we each continue to choose community as the container within which to raise our children.
In community,
Janne Campbell
Course Instructor
The most common question people face when talking about raising children in community:
How do you find the balance between you giving to your own family
and giving to the collective family?
Without a doubt, in this course, you will learn the best ways for your community to find that balance.
It takes a village to raise our children –
but how do we achieve this without becoming mired in conflict and confusion?
We want to be sure we are creating a safe and inclusive space, not only for the children,
but for all members — which is vital to the health and growth of the community as a whole.
Knowing where to start and having the right conversations can be the most difficult part of coming
to an agreement on parenting styles, education paths, and how to make a community more child-friendly.
In the Raising Children in Community course, you will learn how to share the balance of raising
children and how to maintain an atmosphere of joy, respect, and connection
with one another while doing it.
