What I refer to open parenting I am talking about parents who open their children up to different cultures, different languages, different races and different religions. Such parents are not concerned about bad or good, but rather want to enrich their children’s understanding of the importance, richness and beauty of human diversity. Hawaii is one of the best of examples of open parenting on a broad scale. Interracial marriage is so common there as to approach the norm.

The other night we went to hear a performance by a local group of musicians. It was a three piece band with one man and two women. They all played the guitar and sang with beautiful voices. What struck me when I was watching them was that the two women held their guitars in the opposite direction from the way in which the man held his. I realized that he was left handed and that was why he was playing the strings with his left hand and not his right.

In a recent Time Magazine article, Nancy Gibbs (Gibbs 2009) describes what she calls the “backlash” against over-parenting. This is a subject we have covered in earlier blogs, particularly in the blog reviewing the book, Free Range Kids.

The pool at our local high school, is open to the community during the after school hours. A variety of programs are offered for children as well as for those, like myself, who only want to swim laps. I have found that the locker room area that serves the pool is a rich source of material for blogs.

I was both surprised, and very impressed, with my three-year-old granddaughter Maya, a Down syndrome child, when we were eating out at a restaurant. I had these reactions because, when the waitress asked her name, Maya clearly said both her name and her address. Maya’s response also reminded me of how important it is for young children to learn basic information about themselves that they can convey in emergencies.