Conjecture Institute

Could it really be okay to let kids eat whatever they want? Sleep whenever they want? Watch whatever they want? If kids are completely free to make their own choices, won’t they develop damaging habits that will haunt them into adulthood? Surely parents have a duty to set a few limits.

What if a philosophy from the 20th century explains why this conventional wisdom is wrong?

In The Sovereign Child, Aaron Stupple carries the torch of Taking Children Seriously, a parenting movement whose cornerstone is the idea that children’s reasons, desires, emotions, and creativity all work precisely the same way that those of adults do-in short, that children are people.

Using examples gleaned from his experience as a father of five, Stupple takes a close look at the unavoidable harms of rule enforcement and the startling alternatives available when parents never give up on treating children as if their reasons for their choices matter as much as anyone else’s.