“I don’t want to say that there’s One True Libertarian parenting style. I’m not even a parent, so plenty of people think I’m disqualified from having an opinion, despite the fact that I have been a child and well aware of my own mind, desires, and agency. I’ve also been a nanny to an incredibly self-possessed child I am honored to still influence as she grows.

But I am a libertarian, and I do think that the way I was raised makes my understanding of the principles of self-ownership and non-aggression tremendously engrained in how I reflect on the world, and how I advocate for liberty. How I advocate for myself. How I advocate for others.

I ask anyone who is parenting, or considering parenting, to look at the ways they pressure children or force children. Look at the ways they tell children that they do not own themselves, that they are not responsible for their own bodies, and they are not the best judge of what is okay for them.

How many people take this concept into adulthood? That they are not fit to determine their own lives? That they cannot? That they must rely on their parent, or, when they’ve left the nest, their government?

Self-ownership begins at home.”

Read more at The Libertarian Republic.

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