This video makes me quite sad

The boy is five, not seven. Does that make a difference?
No formal schooling in Finland until seven, and they have the best results in the world.

I don't give a stuff about how they will integrate. Just don't ask me to contribute to "gofundme" for £100,000 to move out of the one bedroom flat in Brighton for a better life. .

PS: if you kid peed on my carpet you would be huckled out quick smart, and never be invited again.

I do worry how these children will integrate into the "real world", being able to read & write is essential as is some understanding of maths. I disagree with children not having boundaries - all children need them if only to give them something to rebel against

As for walking barefoot, indoors is fine but not outside (I am not allowed to walk barefoot indoors as I am Diabetic & have Peripheral Neuropathy)although I would prefer to.

Have severe doubts about the way they are funding (or expecting others to fund) their lifestyle

Apart from the obvious issues with the lack of vaccinations I think the thing that made me most sad was their affirmation that the little boy at 7 didn't need to be able to read and write at this stage and they didn't bother with it.

Reading is something all 4 of my grandchildren take great pleasure in and provides a whole new set of experiences and for that matter learning opportunities.

I have no strong feelings about home schooling, its not something I would have done and neither would my daughters but I'm sure done well its ok.

I do know that despite the fact that I never wear shoes indoors preferring to be bare foot , I wouldn't walk to my shops barefoot and I wouldn't allow a toddler to either.

But again - horses for courses.

I'm doubtful of the decision not to vaccinate, though they are not unique in this respect. If you read magazines such as Green Parent or Juno, which deal with alternative methods of child-rearing, the anti-vaccination movement is quite strongly represented. It is motivated by concerns over the safety and effectiveness of vaccination, and has presumably been influenced by the now-discredited (in most people's minds) link between vaccination and autism. Well-meant, certainly, but I think they are wrong.

As for the rest...It's their choice and I can't see that the children are being harmed. They're not the only family in the world who choose the unschooling way, and a child with two loving, easy-going parents are surely better off than a great many kids who are undergoing traditional schooling but don't have close and loving parental relationships.

My DD has recently chosen to home educate her little girls and I am helping her, and I support her decision to do what she thinks is best for her children. It wasn't made lightly or easily. We are taking a semi-structured approach but trying to allow plenty of free play and expression as well as literacy, maths, etc. All home schoolers are different, and who is to say how this couple's kids will turn out? It may be that they will blossom through this sort of childhood.

I found an article on the Guardian about them. They've so far raised £255 towards their move to Costa Rica, where they will find that vaccinations for children are mandatory.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jul/24/off-grid-parenting-david-bowie-bob-geldof

Should have been " today's world".

Hmm. Well meaning , BUT, how will the children integrate into a society which, at very least , expects some conformity if they are to succeed and feel a sense of self-worth? Free-range behaviour comes at a cost for other members of society; how are they relating to their peer group /, considering the needs of others or learning that what they want is not necessarily good for them at a particular stage of their development ? In any society there must be a "no " factor with young children and they should not dictate every situation.
I feel that long-term this is more beneficial to their parents ideals than preparing a child for this century. The parents may dismiss modern day society but appear prepared to dip in and out of it to suit their needs. Obviously I do not know the full history but if they appeared on TV programme this appears to be a prostitution of their beliefs by being sucked into the media. Do they indeed have a TV? As for money - it is suggested that they do not earn - how is this measuring up to their hunter gathering beliefs? I f neither parent "gathers" (ie earns,) how could such a society flourish? In such a society they would wither unless they played their part for the general good of others.

Too may unknowns to be overly judgemental ( so-rr-eee, had the judgemental thread a few days ago) but personally think they are doing their children a grave disservice in todays word.
Not convinced from what I have read.

it would be interesting to know what jobs the parents have if they are working. I think the issue of a set bedtime for the children would become quite important then as parents would need some time to recharge after working and dealing with home schooling etc

Googled them to find out about the crowdfunding. Made me think of the Harrison Ford film, 'Mosquito Coast' . Should they manage to move to a large plot of land in Costa Rica and become self-sufficient, I wonder how the children will feel as they grow up. n the basis that children rebel will they want to move back to the UK and work in insurance? Rather than turning into "atrociously behaved teenagers" maybe they'll emulate Saffron in 'Ab Fab'?

All very well,but these free-range children invariably grow up into atrociously behaved teenagers then adults.

No, I don't think it's the way forward , but it didn't make me at all sad. They seem like a loving, well-meaning couple who obviously live for their children and are doing what they think is best for them. And the children seem to be thriving. Yes, I would take issue with the lack of innoculations and sincerely hope that if the children are ill they do have the sense to get medical help when needed instead of relying on that sterile breast milk as a cure-all! But going barefoot is fine imho so long as the parent is looking out for hazards - I used to run to the local shop in my bare feet when I was a child, still whip my shoes off as soon as I see a beach and can see the point about connecting with the ground, and I'm no hippie (well, maybe just a bit of one). It would indeed be interesting to fast forward a few years and see how the family turn out - my guess would be that they are much closer to the mainstream by then as the children make friends with others and turn away from some aspects of their lifestyle.

Yes, the plastic toys! At one stage in the video the dad said the children didn't need plastic toys - has he not looked around him lately? Perhaps Nana bought them!

I didn't see anything to worry me apart from the not inoculating the children. That means they are wholly reliant on the rest of the population to inoculating theirs. I too smiled at the amount of plastic toys I saw in the video. If they are able to fund their life choices that's ok. The problem with rearing children is you don't know what mistakes you've made until it's too late and their adults.

Mmmm. Interesting to see that the children play with ordinary plastic toys like Daleks and the craft box has the same stuff as our one. I expected craft work to be organic, sticks, leaves, string, pebbles, veg dye ........
I suppose they can get away with not inoculating the children because they can rely on everyone else inoculating theirs and therefore keeping the diseases in check.
It is a good thing that the boy is home schooled as Mum turning up at the school gate to breastfeed him might be a tad harmful to his street cred with his peers.
The barefoot child is the least of it really.
Good for them for taking what they think is a natural approach to child rearing but there are good reasons why we humans are no longer hunter/ gathering. I wonder what sort of childhood the parents experienced.

I can't get too worked up about that film. I didn't see the crowdfunding bit - is that elsewhere?

In many countries children don't start compulsory school until they're 7yo yet I believe by the time they are 10yo many of them have surpassed their British counterparts in levels of literacy. My own poor grandson is due to begin school 10days after he is four years old. That's far too young, IMO!

Even the bare footed stuff I am 'meh' about. I wouldn't practise that myself but as long as the parents are watchful, she'll be fine. I spent whole summers on beaches in bare feet in my childhood!

I'm not sure I'd want to breastfeed a child of the age of the boy and I do think for his future online security, he shouldn't be so identifiable.

Mostly, I laughed at how much plastic stuff they have in their lives! It's far more than any of mine ever had!

I don't have a problem with the Home schooling as we Home Educate ourselves. Most countries don't start their children into school until they are seven and learning through interests definitely works.
However, you can't go through life without rules and somethings need to be learnt whether you want to or not.
Our daughter hates Maths, for example with a vengeance, but you need to know maths in life, so she has a maths tutor which is non negotiable.
Innoculations in my opinion are an absolute necessity and not allowing your children to have them is selfish. If they develop these illnesses, they will be not only ill themselves, but endangering others they may come into contact with who maybe less able to fight them off.
Walking bare foot for babies is better for them but not outside where you can't be sure what they 're stepping on.
It's unfortunate that Home schooling families like that, who have what I would call extreme ideas, cause people to assume that all Home Educators are the same, which they most certainly arnt.

Even the queen has rules and regulations to abide by! Children need structure & boundaries.
If they are crowd funding their choice of lifestyle then that's just wrong. I'm sure a lot of people would like to be living a different life given more money but that doesn't mean other people should cough up for it!! ?

It's their choice about parenting and the kids will probably be fine, but they are crowd funding to enable them to live abroad somewhere so they can be totally self sufficient. Wrong on so many levels - they can't be self sufficient if they're relying on other people's money, they're not likely to just be able to find the ideal place to live and the local people may well be hostile to an immigrant family who live only by their own rules (that sounds familiar!)

Their parenting choices are not the norm but they seem to be caring and loving parents. The kids are happy for now as they are too young to make comparisons between themselves and other children. I'm not sure how they'll feel about this as the grow older and interact with others outwith their immediate family.

I hope it works well for them.

Their choices , the children are loved, this parenting isn't new, I can remember similar in the hippy comunities which sprung up in this area in the sixties and seventies . As for walking barefooted , reminds me when my daughters use to spend the summer holidays with my sister in law in Aberaeron , always walked around the town barefooted , they loved it and mixed well with the children in a hippy commune there

I saw this family on This Morning a while ago. The little boy
was badly behaved, jumping up and down on the sofa etc. They let both of the children do as they pleased in the studio and the smaller child appeared to wee on the studio floor with no apology from the parents.

I did watch it , I have seen far worse parenting . The only thing I would take issue with is not inoculating them. otherwise it all seems fairly harmless and takes me back to the parenting styles of the 70`s in more intellectual households . I knew quite a few families like this and the children have grown up to be lovely people . I didn`t notice the crowd funding bit ? , but don`t agree with them if that's what they are doing .

Cannot get it to load.

I can get it to load. I am with you there though another couple with silly ideas.
If you name your children Ulysses and Ostara you will need to educate them "otherwise"

"We want to share our knowledge of off-grid parenting and expand on our experience by fully immersing ourselves in a natural environment where we can become more self sufficient.
So they are asking for people to give them money!??

Why then are they asking for crowd funding for their own benefit.??
They sound attention seeking to me.

Silly people. Have they no regard for the things our ancestors have learned. They'll regret it!