Suzy McKee Charnas' book Motherlines had children running through the camp in packs, without much interaction with adults, until they reached puberty.
Wow, that is way too lord of the flies for me!
They tended to think that if children are a necessary contribution to society's continuation, everyone should share the responsibility: it shouldn't be just the birth mother, overburdened, with maybe a little grudging help from other adults.
I agree with this. I can definitely see the motivation for community parenting and agree about nuclear households and abuse--not to mention an enormous waste of resources!
I do wonder about the cut off from the family of origin part though, while I can see the reasoning behind ending familial isolation, but a complete separation of all families seems cruel and less than ideal to me.
Re: Family of Origin
Wow, that is way too lord of the flies for me!
They tended to think that if children are a necessary contribution to society's continuation, everyone should share the responsibility: it shouldn't be just the birth mother, overburdened, with maybe a little grudging help from other adults.
I agree with this. I can definitely see the motivation for community parenting and agree about nuclear households and abuse--not to mention an enormous waste of resources!
I do wonder about the cut off from the family of origin part though, while I can see the reasoning behind ending familial isolation, but a complete separation of all families seems cruel and less than ideal to me.