Cohousing-L Mailing List: Parenting in community

[Rob Sandelin (floriferous]

This is a subject which is very worth discussing, especially in broad terms
so nobody feels threatened.  A good starting question to get conversation
going is:  how is parenting in community different than parenting outside
community?  When dealing with potentially intense topics, it can be useful
to create a place to talk which is not  directly personal at first. Starting
from a general topic, allows people to add their viewpoint, but not be as
defensive or attacking as when the issue is specifically about an
individual.  This kind of  general intervention allows people to listen and
evaluate themselves and their own issues and behaviors without specifically
being singled out. In this case, if you hear lots of people talking about
things you do, then as an individual you can learn from this and take action
without feeling threatened. 

Here is a link to  some information I wrote up about interventions once
which might be useful http://www.ic.org/nica/Book/8%20Intervention.htm

Rob Sandelin
Sharingwood
Snohomish County, WA