This post deals with parents isolating and controlling their children’s
social interactions; of course my parents and many other homeschooling parents
have engaged in many other forms of control, but this is one that people don't
seem to realize is a problem. Below, I give some examples of social isolation
and control in my own life, and then reference work from Roberta Hibbard, Jane
Barlow, and Harriet MacMillan to show how social isolation can be a serious
problem for children who are subjected to it.
As I have said in previous posts, many of
the people who were involved with my family over the years still don't really
get what the problem was. They will admit that my parents were a bit
overprotective. Depending on the day they might even admit that my parents were
controlling. But they always cycle back to trying to convince me that my
parents were just doing their best, just trying to keep us safe. Then sometimes
the same people concede that not everything was perfect but assure me that my
father has changed. I don't spend much time around people who think they are in
a position to re-write my history for me.
Once when I was about 15, I was something
like friends with the neighbour girl. She was about 2 years older than me, and
very conservative (more so than we were, in some ways - they attended a very
conservative Mennonite church). Her parents and my parents ran in the same
circles and spent time together talking about fundamentalism
