Natural Humanists believe that many jobs, and many educational subjects in schools, colleges and universities, are of little value to the planet and its natural inhabitants, and that some go directly against Natural Humanist values. Consequently, they believe that Natural Humanists should discourage each other from wasting their time and potential as human beings, by concentrating on such work or education.
Some Natural Humanists may choose to utilise their own knowledge and experience, to create books and educational materials, which allow people to study Natural Humanism, or subjects linked to Natural Humanist values or beliefs, or subjects of particular relevance to Natural Humanists.
This may also include teaching the skills needed to run, or work in, not-for-profit businesses or charities, which put into practice Natural Humanist beliefs, or which provide essential ethical products and services, locally or worldwide, that are needed by other Natural Humanists, or by all human beings who live an ethical lifestyle, so not products and services that are unnecessary, or that are in some way harmful to individuals, to society, or to the natural world.
Natural Humanists may choose to make the educational materials they produce available online, on a not-for-profit or charitable basis, to allow people to learn freely, without limit or cost, right throughout their lives, via the internet, from any part of the world. They may also choose to supply this material to mainstream schools, for use as part of their general religious and social education syllabus, or to allow people to study Natural Humanism as a subject in its own right, possibly at primary or secondary school, or at college or university.
Some may choose to set up and run dedicated Natural Humanist schools and colleges, which may give a general education, but focus on Natural Humanist values and beliefs, and on subjects which prepare young people for a life and career that can meaningfully put these beliefs into action.
Preparing Children for Life
Natural Humanists believe that all children should be taught all the knowledge and skills they’ll ever need to be fully independent, autonomous and free, from the earliest age that they, individually, are capable of doing so. They also believe that every time a child learns any of these new skills, they should then, as soon as possible, be safely enabled to practice them as much as possible, throughout their childhood, whenever they need or wish to do so, possibly with supervision or assistance initially, but then fully independently as soon as this is safe and appropriate.
Natural Humanists believe strongly in teaching their children to always have an open, curious and questioning mind, and to always think for themselves, to think freely, and to have their own opinions. They allow their children to develop their own beliefs, even if these differ from Natural Humanist philosophy, but encourage them to only believe things if they’ve considered them carefully, and can justify their reasons for holding these beliefs, never merely as an act of defiance, or as an attempt to ‘fit in’ to wider society, or a particular social group.
They encourage children to take educated risks, and to always accept, and learn from, the consequences of these risks, but also believe that parents have a duty to keep lines of communication with their children wide open, so that they can assist them to predict and assess risks beforehand, and can provide the right level of supportive, nurturing, non-judgmental supervision and guidance, to safely enable all such activities, whenever this is necessary and appropriate. They try to always make themselves available as loving, non-judgmental, supportive enablers of whatever is important to their children’s freedom, quality of life, true happiness, and personal development.
Emotional Intelligence
Natural Humanists recognise that general intelligence (IQ) is a measure of somebody’s ability to learn, to understand, to apply information to skills, and to filter out irrelevant information, and that it includes their mathematical skills, and their capacity for abstract and spatial thinking, logical reasoning, and word comprehension[i],[ii].
They acknowledge, however, that this is very different from a person’s emotional intelligence (EQ) which is the ability of children and adults to identify, evaluate, understand, control, and express both their own and other people’s emotions, and their ability to use emotions to facilitate their thinking[iii],[iv].
Natural Humanists acknowledge that people with a high EQ are more able to understand, empathise with, care about and connect with people around them, something that Natural Humanists value very highly.
They acknowledge that a child’s emotional awareness can[v],[vi], and therefore should, be strengthened, from an early age, both by their parents and by the child’s wider Natural Humanist community, by encouraging them to share, to cooperate, to think about other people, to put themselves in other people’s shoes, and to respect other people’s individuality, personal space, boundaries, beliefs, goals, wishes and desires.
They believe strongly that many parents fail to do this, which leads to an increase in selfishness, toxic thinking and behaviour, all of which are a significant threat to our society, to our planet and to all other species.
Similarly, they believe that every single incidence of toxic human behaviour exhibited by, or witnessed by, their own children, for example on TV, should always be pointed out, and used as a learning opportunity. They acknowledge that, in wider society, most human beings exhibit toxic behaviours and beliefs every day, without these ever being criticised or commented on, which promotes public tolerance and acceptance of toxicity, and encourages its widespread repetition, and viral spread.
Social and Romantic Skills
As they believe in polyamory, Natural Humanists believe it’s very important to teach their children how to share love, how to balance their own needs and wishes with those of everybody else that they love, how to assert themselves in healthy ways, and how to listen actively, to allow them to truly hear and understand what others think and feel.
They also believe it’s important to teach their children about tolerating, accepting and celebrating difference, about the importance of communicating their own boundaries, desires and wishes and respecting other people’s, about the importance of forgiveness, and about the importance of learning from both their own and other people’s mistakes.
They believe strongly that children should be taught, from birth, to always care about, respect and support their siblings, and to care about all aspects of their happiness and welfare, rather than just tolerating each other, as so many siblings do.
They believe in teaching siblings to play together from an early age, to share friends, to include each other in social and leisure activities, to be affectionate with each other, and for older siblings to assist younger siblings with personal care whenever this is necessary and appropriate, including changing nappies, helping with dressing, and washing them at bathtime, if this can safely be facilitated.
They also believe that washing all, or just certain parts of each other’s bodies in the bath, is an important act of loving kindness for siblings, or friends, of any age, even into and beyond puberty, always with each other’s permission, and with any boundaries for this decided between them, and any guidance and supervision being made available by their parents whenever this is necessary. They believe that this teaches children, from an early age, about setting, upholding and respecting personal boundaries, about respecting people of different genders, and about consensual and non-consensual touching, and that it also helps children to develop healthy views of their own, each other’s, and other people’s bodies, and discourages unhealthy sexualisation of natural nudity.
They believe that brothers should be taught to understand and respect the pain, discomfort, and pre-menstrual symptoms experienced by their sisters at various stages of their menstrual cycle, and to always be kind to and supportive of them, whenever they’re experiencing these symptoms.
Infantilisation
Natural Humanists believe that, in so many areas of life, parents, society and the State, deliberately infantilise children, despite the fact that this is neither necessary, nor appropriate, and that it can delay their development.
They frequently, unnecessarily ‘mother’ children and prevent them from developing knowledge and skills, and from becoming fully independent. They ignore their emotional, psychological and physical maturity, as well as their ‘adult’ needs, wishes, desires and natural rights, and treat them like fragile and incompetent infants, encouraging or forcing them to behave in childish ways, and ignoring their maturity, in age or experience, as well as their skills and knowledge, and their value as human beings.
They acknowledge that this infantilisation by parents, society, the State and the legal system, is particularly inappropriate, immoral and harmful, when children become both physically and reproductively adults, which can be at just 13 years old, or even younger, in girls.
They recognise that this infantilisation denies them important rights, freedom, autonomy, independence and equality, and coercively controls them, treating them as ‘property’, whose ‘value’ has to be constantly maintained or increased, including their ‘value’ to capitalism, via ‘success’ in the education system and future employment, their ‘value’ as chaste virgins to future life-partners, and their ‘value’ to their family, as representatives of the ‘family brand’.
Evidence of the increasing trend to infantilise children, includes the fact that the age at which parents potty-train their children has increased, in the UK, from 28 months old in the 1950s, to 37 months old in 2025, [vii] and the fact that the age at which British children are legally allowed to leave school has increased from 12 in 1899, to 14 in 1918, to 15 in 1947, to 16 in 1972 and to 18 in 2015[viii], and also the fact that the age at which children are allowed to get married has recently increased in England and Wales from 16 to 18.
Today, children in the UK are also 62% less likely to play away from their own home, without adult supervision, than their grandparents did[ix], which according to Helen Dodd, Professor of Child Psychology at the University of Exeter, is likely to have consequences for their development, including their ability to negotiate and share communal spaces, develop friendships, learn social skills, experience freedom, develop independence, and could also negatively affect their mental health[x]. Indeed, those children under 13, who do frequently have the opportunity to play out, seem to have comparatively good mental health[xi], particularly if they’re involved in adventurous play, as this allows them to increase their resilience and well-being, according to Anita Grant, the chair of Play England[xii].
Natural Humanists believe it’s a direct threat to children’s natural freedom and human rights, that parents and society have become so ‘risk-averse’, constantly feeling the need to protect their children from reality, and from perceived risks and threats, which are often blown up out of all proportion. They recognise that this is often significantly due to parents not recognising their children’s ability to safely deal with these situations, or failing to prepare them for such situations, or is due to an unhealthy need to ‘wrap them up in cotton wool’ and to prevent them from facing, and learning from risks and challenges, as nature ‘intended’ all human beings to do.
A common expression amongst such risk-averse and controlling parents, is “let children be children”, but this can often be more truthfully reworded as “force children to remain children”, which may successfully allow these parents to fulfil their own selfish ‘need’ to be needed, and to be able to ‘mother’ their fast-maturing children, but, in the process of doing so, also denies their children the ability to develop at a pace they’re fully capable of, and which would allow them to maximise their freedom, independence and control over their own lives, something they undoubtedly have an absolute moral right to be able to do.
In contrast to this, Natural Humanists attempt to always treat children as their equals, and as unique individuals, and to always support their rights and freedoms, in every way that’s possible and appropriate, while also guiding, supporting and safely enabling this freedom and independence. They seek to enable all children to become fully capable, independent and proficient in all areas of life, as soon as they’re capable of, and interested in doing so, regardless of society’s views and conventions on the matter.
Natural Humanists believe it’s immoral not to allow, or enable, all human beings, from early childhood onwards, to learn all the skills they’ll ever need to prevent them from becoming unnecessarily dependent on their family, on other children or adults, or on capitalist businesses. For example, having the ability to make all their own meals, drinks and snacks, to perform all personal care tasks and domestic activities, to grow plant foods at home, to make and mend their own clothes, and to perform basic housework, DIY and household maintenance tasks.
They believe that children should always be enabled, encouraged and supervised to contribute fairly to all aspects of family and community life, and that they should be allowed to gain pride, confidence respect and self-esteem from doing so.
They believe that children’s increasing skills, knowledge and independence should always be celebrated by their family and community, and that they should have the opportunity to, and be encouraged to, put their combined knowledge and skills to meaningful uses, of their choice, throughout their childhoods, rather than parents just ‘babysitting’ them until they reach adulthood.
They believe it’s immoral, and abusive, for any parent to deny their children the right, and the opportunities, to develop skills, confidence, self-esteem and independence at a time, and at a pace, which matches their individual capabilities, and that it’s similarly immoral to deny them the degree of freedom that their level of skills, knowledge and experience allows them to safely have. They’re against the unnecessary control of any human being or animal, and this most certainly includes their own, or other people’s children.
Sharing Skills and Knowledge
Natural Humanists share Pablo Picasso’s belief that the meaning of life is to find one’s gift and that the purpose of life is to give it away[xiii], so, in all areas of their lives, and at all ages, Natural Humanists believe they should always be open to sharing their own skills and knowledge with each other, for the common good.
They believe that keeping skills and knowledge to themselves, rather than freely sharing these with other people who would benefit from them, denies these people the ability to become the most skilled, knowledgeable and competent version of themselves, causing them to remain dependent on other people, something that Natural Humanists recognise is an important part of what allows capitalism to dominate our lives.
As anti-capitalists, Natural Humanists believe in always doing things for themselves, whenever they can, or doing them as a community, rather than ‘buying in’ products or services from capitalist businesses. For example, if somebody teaches them, all human beings can make delicious coffees, cakes, snacks, alcoholic drinks and a wide variety of delicious meals, both for themselves and for their family or community, so it’s rarely, if ever, necessary to use profit-making cafes, bars and restaurants.
The same is true of every product or service which a Natural Humanist could create or perform themselves, or which a member of their own family, or their friends or community, could create or perform for them. Doing so not only removes the need to pay for these things, and the need to work in meaningless and degrading jobs to earn the money for them, but it also removes the need for them to effectively ‘enslave’ other human beings, who are employees of these capitalist businesses, to do things that they’re perfectly capable of doing themselves.
Natural Humanists believe that capitalism prevents or discourages human beings from becoming and remaining the competent, self-sufficient, multi-skilled people that Natural Humanists all have the ability to become, and which we all were, earlier in our human history. They also believe that sharing knowledge, nurturing each other’s skills, and celebrating each other’s achievements, are all important ways of bonding together, as a supportive and loving community, as is using our own skills to provide others with things they want or need, as an act of kindness, or in exchange for a favour in return.
Some Natural Humanist Communities may choose to obtain all or most of the products and services they ever need from their own (or the global) Natural Humanist Community, or from charitable or not-for-profit businesses, either at cost-price or on a ‘not-for-profit’ basis, which just covers the cost of that business or charity creating or providing these products and services, including a modest wage for staff, without exploiting them as a customer, or unnecessarily boosting the wealth of the business owner.
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References
[i] Wikipedia contributors. “Intelligence.” 31 May 2025. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 9 Jun. 2025. Intelligence – Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence
[ii] Psychology Today Staff. “Intelligence IQ, Giftedness”. psychologytoday.com. 9 June 2025. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/intelligence
[iii] Psychology Today Staff. “Emotional Intelligence”. psychologytoday.com. 9 June 2025. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/emotional-intelligence
[iv] Wikipedia contributors. “Emotional intelligence.” 9 Jun. 2025. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 9 Jun. 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/emotional_intelligence
[v] Psychology Today Staff. “Emotional Intelligence”. psychologytoday.com. 9 June 2025. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/emotional-intelligence
[vi] Alegre A. “The Relation Between the Time Mothers and Children Spent Together and the Children’s Trait Emotional Intelligence”. Child & Youth Care Forum. 41 (5) (2012): 493–508. doi:10.1007/s10566-012-9180-z. S2CID 144031333s. Cited on: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_development#cite_note-119
[vii] BBC Breakfast News. “Potty Training”. 5 March 2025. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news
[viii] Wikipedia contributors. “Raising of school leaving age in England and Wales.” 28 Mar. 2025. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 6 Jun. 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_of_school_leaving_age_in_England_and_Wales
[ix] Dodd, Helen (Professor of Child Psychology. University of Exeter). “Only One In Four Children Play Out Regularly On Their Street Compared To Almost Three-Quarters Of Their Grandparents Generation” 5 Aug 2022. savethechildren.org.uk. 6 June 2025. https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/news/media-centre/press-releases/2022/children-today-far-less-likely-to-play-outside-than-their-grandparents
[x] Dodd, Helen (Professor of Child Psychology. University of Exeter). “Only One In Four Children Play Out Regularly On Their Street Compared To Almost Three-Quarters Of Their Grandparents Generation” 5 Aug 2022. savethechildren.org.uk. 6 June 2025. https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/news/media-centre/press-releases/2022/children-today-far-less-likely-to-play-outside-than-their-grandparents
[xi] Dodd, Helen (Professor of Child Psychology. University of Exeter). “Only One In Four Children Play Out Regularly On Their Street Compared To Almost Three-Quarters Of Their Grandparents Generation” 5 Aug 2022. savethechildren.org.uk. 6 June 2025. https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/news/media-centre/press-releases/2022/children-today-far-less-likely-to-play-outside-than-their-grandparents
[xii] NIHR School for Public Health Research. “Children who play adventurously have better mental health, research finds”. nihr.ac.uk. 6 June 2025. https://sphr.nihr.ac.uk/children-who-play-adventurously-have-better-mental-health-research-finds/
[xiii] The narratologist. “Best Pablo Picasso quotes the meaning of life”. 2025. thenarratologist.com. 9 June 2025. https://www.thenarratologist.com/best-pablo-picasso-quotes-the-meaning-of-life/