Learning from children

Visions of the Rewilding Renaissance Rewilding Mind & Heart
#1

My high school psychology teacher used to have a poster in her room with a poster of a boy with a make-shift wooden toy car with the caption “All kids are inventors”.

Looking at my younger cousins, I see a feral edge to them that, while depressing to know that it will be beaten out of them, is inspiring to look upon. Their sense of ingenuity, the love of play, the love of nature, the simple, honest speech. I’ve seen one younger cousin catch a butterfly with great precision thinking to myself “I’m too clumsy to do that”.

Children make shelter (forts), hunt for food (eating bugs, I know this seems contrived and silly, but I think it’s a legit way of thinking “All food is available to me”) make music and art (pots, pans and crayons) assume roles through play (playing “house”) and all other sorts of things that we aspire to.

What we see in children is the very beginning; if we have been denied the proper ontogeny and development of feral culture, we can at least see genesis.

#2

Very true dude. It’s in our bones. Walking away is actually walking towards. I have two young nephews, and so I see the same things you are talking about. I’m just scared to act too “weird” with them for fear of stepping on my sister’s turf. Actually, there’s a question: How do you nurture the feral-ness of kids who aren’t your own?

By the by, I love your name. Great guitarist.

#3

i dont believe it’s silly. if anything it should be inspiring and encouraging in your own rewilding process. it proves that revulsion to entomophagy (eating insects) is purely cultural.

i would watch children closely for other glimpses into a pre-socialized life.

as far as not stepping on your sisters’ toes, i’d say that she’s made her choices in life while her kids haven’t yet. provide them with as many natural possibilities you can. go fuckin weird. show them primmy skills and anti-civ thinking. this can be done in non-threatening ways (many work with boy scouts, childrens gardening etc)

most of all teach them to question, question, question.

after all, it’s them and not her who will be inheriting this world…

#4

The other day I watch a show based mostly on wild black bears. Talk about awesomeness! I never new how closely these quys (oh, and gals) relate to us.

The show covered a family of three, a mother and her two cubs. I didn’t see the beginning but followed the rest of the show all the way to the end and felt like I learned a lot from the mother and the two cubs. I especially remember the part of the show where the mother showed and gave advice on climbing trees, this part actually broke down to several parts, because the mother trained on multipul trees as the children grew larger, meaner, leaner, wiser, and braver.

Check out these cuties and their mom:

#5

My niece does a great diagonal walk on all fours, she just turn two n half.

#6

What an exciting thread! I have a 9 month old now and from the begging I wanted to learn as much from arrow as it learns from me. I could’nt be happier either. Babies can comunicate without words, if you are a receptive person and are open to listening. I feel like everything my child does at this point is strickly human nature because Arrow has been untainted by civilization, well Arrows horizons are growing beyond the boob now so the tainting begins I guesse. But Arrow goes outside and pulls me with it demands to play in the wet leaves and eat dirt, I learn what life is about from my kid. Also watching Arrow tumble and wriggle out of hugs has inspired a new school of Kung Fu for me. Every now and then something will remind me about how I thought and viewed the world when I was younger, it saddens me because I am so deadened to the stimulous that once made me weep. I hope I can keep up with Arrow and manage to help create an enviornment that doesnt desensitize arrow. I hope It never loses it’s wonderlust. Maybe I can regain something through Arrows eyes.

#7

Just the thread I was looking for!

Before I ever thought about all this rewilding civ stuff, I had one super strange experience with my little brother. He’s a real outgoing little runt (often to my annoyance) but when he’s trying to pull a prank or spread porky pies, it’s not hard for me to tell. That’s why this first thing really surprised me. Him and I were in the back yard with the dog and the weather was great, hardly a cloud in the sky. (he’s seven at the time btw) He looks up and says “it’s gonna rain tomorrow” just as frank as that. I say something like ‘Oh yeah? The news say that?’
“No, I just know,” he says, or something like it. And, as it so happens, it rained a lot the very next day. I myself believed him when he said he hadn’t watched the news.

And lately he’s been sayin a lot of stuff that mirrors almost exactly my thoughts, even though I’ve hardly said anything about it to him yet, about civilization and society. Of course, he says it with a child’s vocabulary, but it means the same in its core. Like him and I were walking the dog and he says ‘Lady (our dog) should be our leader’
‘oh why’s that?’
‘because she’s smarter’
‘but i’m leading her’ I say, indicating the leash.
‘yeah, but she’s smarter, she’s not a murderer.’
‘We’re not murderers.’
‘Yeah we are, we murder animals and forests’
‘No I mean you and me, we don’t do that.’
‘But people do. We should do what Lady does. She doesn’t kill.’
‘She would if she had to.’
‘Yeah but only if she wanted food.’
Of course, this is just from memory, not exact, but the basic premise of the little conversation was the same. I’m really glad he’s grown attached to the dog (even though the domestication thing is sad) because he’s been able to stay attached to some amount of human instincts.

Anyway, these types of stories interest me a lot and I hope to read some more. PEACE