on laziness

This question about unschooling came my way today.  It reminded me that the more I integrate an unschooling mentality into my life, my attitudes change.  I sometimes forget what I used to think about unschooling and the doubts and fears I had (though somehow I still find plenty of things to be nervous about) and questions from people who are newer to the educational approach of unschooling give me a chance to clarify the philosophy and concepts.

The question I got was about laziness.  The first question (before the laziness question) was: What do you do if your kids want to watch or play minecraft all day?

A: They watch or play minecraft all day.  What do you mean "IF"?


(Note: some unschoolers don't have TV or video games.  There are different approaches. Personally, we have an unrestricted media policy.)

I personally feel my sons' minecraft time is very well spent.  But that's a separate topic.

The follow up question:  How do you fend off laziness...or do you think laziness is learned?

It was an interesting question to me.  I realized that I have never considered myself lazy, nor do I consider any of my family members lazy.  I was trying to even think about anyone that I know whom I consider lazy, and couldn't think of anyone.

A: I think the bigger question is What is laziness?  I tend to think that avoiding boring work is rational.

It is important to be able to manage your responsibilities.  I have found that when people decide what they want to be responsible for, and decide what their responsibilities are and agree with them--people are rarely lazy in that context.  Laziness usually manifests when someone is 'supposed' to be doing something that someone else thinks is a good idea.*


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*If you are lazy about something that you yourself ostensibly think is a good idea, the question to ask is "what is my conflict."