> [!summary] Progressive Summary # Structured Notes ## Definitions ## Chapter Summaries ### Introduction > “If I had to make a general rule for living and working with children, it might be this: be wary of saying or doing anything to a child that you would not do to another adult, whose good opinion and affection you valued.” —John Holt, Freedom and Beyond > “Children need to be raised in loving environments. Whenever domination is present love is lacking.”—bell hooks, Feminism Is for Everybody > “Kids are fully formed human beings the moment they come into this world. They know who they are, they know what they love, they know what to do! It is our job to be stewards of their humanness and provide the opportunities that they need to thrive. Not what you think they need to thrive, but what they tell you they need to thrive.”—Melody Sherwood (in conversation) > Trust Kids! began with me thinking about how we can create more autonomous communities through deepening our relationships with children. And how, if we can shift these relationships, continue to bust open the patriarchal-nuclear family, create strong intergenerational connections, even in our radical communities, we may have a chance at long lasting change by cocreating a future that is local, decolonial, and autonomous, all amid the ongoing destruction of capitalism. I, and many others, feel these relationships across ages are vital to nurture and grow because, as long as there are seeds of hierarchy in our relationships, we will never fully escape our subjugation—those oppressive seeds will grow and spread, thwarting our collective capacity to be fully free. # Quotes