Thursday, May 26, 2011

Guarding Our Children

This morning S sent me an article he'd run across. This one made me mad. (Not at S!) I spoke yesterday about how we need to guard against the lies that are out there and stick with what God's Word teaches. It's true. But in light of that article, I think we need to be even more purposeful about guarding our children.

This is subtle, and yet, not so subtle. I guess it depends on how much you are paying attention. While it may appear to just be "two days out of the whole school year", you have to know this is being taught/promoted more than just on these scheduled days. And only 3 children were kept home that day. Three. Out of 350 students. And it isn't like those 3 students aren't going to get filled in by their friends.

We need more than just teaching our children, "God made 2 distinct sexes." This is all being taught to our children (it's NOT just California....and it WILL be in many other places in a few years) in the name of "acceptance" and "anti-bullying." That word acceptance is a buzz word. Watch for it. See what things fall under the word acceptance. (That book was part of the 2 days of lessons.)

I wrote about this trend in public schools a long time ago. (The first year I blogged actually.) We used to do a "multi-cultural" unit in December when I taught 3rd grade. We studied Christmas Around the World and each child was put in a group and assigned a country and at the end of 2 weeks they had to give a presentation on how people in that country celebrated the holidays, complete with food, costumes, etc. Multi-cultural was a big, big thing in the early 90s when i was a teacher. The music teacher had the 3rd graders do a multi-cultural musical. A preacher friend of ours was at the performance because his wife was a teacher and his son was in 3rd grade. After it was over, I remember him muttering about how he was sick of this "one world thing." I remember being totally clueless about what he meant. I got it later.

Community. Acceptance. Diversity. Anti-bullying. Differences. Non-discrimination. Safe schools. Oh people, SO MUCH is being slid under the door under these names. If your child goes to public school, please investigate. Pay attention. I would like to believe, like many seem to, that your children are JUST learning math, reading, writing, etc. at school. But it isn't true. They are parenting your children. And it might not jive with your beliefs. (And even if it DOES jive with your beliefs, I do not think it is their place to teach.)

How can Kindergarten students be expected to see this teaching for what it is? How can elementary students hear this from their teachers and not begin to believe it? How can homeschooled students be prepared to deal with this when they are out from under our care?

How much teaching is required of us in the home to counter-act this? To prepare our children for a world where this is normal? What do we do?

8 comments:

  1. Post like this are just what I need to hear on days I am tired and that big yellow bus going down the road looks so tempting. I praise God for the opportunity to homeschool my children and to get them out of all of that muck. God bless you for this. Keep us educated!

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  2. Amen.
    We had to put our dd back in public school in November, and I signed a waiver to have her go to another class the day her health class covered sex topics such as STDs. Out of all the sixth graders, she was the only one who didn't attend. My bet is that most parents had no idea about this presentation or the opportunity to opt out of it. Thank you, but I will teach my child about the birds and the bees at home from a Christian perspective.
    Dawn T.

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  3. Goodness Dawn...were notes sent home? Mine would certainly not have been there. Sixth Grade??? Really??

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  4. The waiver was sent home, but my guess is that most of them never arrived in the hands of the parents. As a teacher, I am aware of this waiver and know to ask for it. Although the policy is public, it is not advertised. My understanding is that the fastest growing number of STD cases are in middle school CHILDREN. Sad but true. Where are the parents??

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  5. Gotta love institutionalized indoctrination centers, government or otherwise. Blech!

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  6. I am so proud of that school for having such a great lesson. public schools are not perfect by any means, but at least they attempt to teach love your neighbor, love your neighbor unlike certain other types of schooling, eh? It is just sad that some parents want to opt out (though I respect their choice too opt out--it is a free country). I am just sad that some people think intolerance and hate are okay. . . even if they think God said so. If God really says so. . then honestly that makes me hate Christianity. . .

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  7. Teapong?, Thank you for chiming in. I think I should correct myself. This was actually an add-on to the previous day's post. In that orginal post I was more clear that I was speaking to other Christians and how we should react to the schools teaching something that very much goes against our beliefs. I think anyone can understand that...regardless of their beliefs. I am sure there is a topic you would not want your children taught about. I'm not sure what it would be. Is is OK for them to come into your child's class and show them p*rn*graphy and explain that "some people like to look at this and that's OK"? Of course not. Even in the name of being accepting, I am sure there would be things you would object to being taught to your children.

    I am not sure where in my post I said that "God says hate people" or "God says be intolerant." My point was that a LOT of things are being presented to school children these days under the guise of teaching acceptance. Or teaching not to bully. Of course I teach my children not to bully. But I will not teach them to accept a lifestyle that goes directly against God's Word. Will we love and share Christ with those people? Of course. Don't take my willingness to say strong things about a sinful lifestyle as me saying strong things about a sinner. This post was not about hating people who have a different lifestyle than me, but about hating that children are being indoctrinated to believe things that are not true.

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  8. i understand what you are saying. . . but there are children out there who identify more with our culture's idea of a masculine identity. . what if they were told that that was wrong, sick, against nature. . . he or she will start to believe that they are not okay, they are sick, wrong, gross. . . that is not okay. . . this is why people have such issues. . .when they think that who they are is not okay. . . thats when people start to have severe emotional problems and start thinking they shouldn't be living. . .remember all those kids that committed suicide because of reactions to their sexual preferences? This is just like that. It doesn't make sense that you are just teaching that identifying with a different gender is wrong. . . when you are teaching that a lifestyle is wrong. . you are saying those people are in the wrong. . . and that is the very definition of intolerance.. . and this has nothing to do with pornography. . . how are those related??? That does not make sense. . it is about accepting people, and accepting a reality. Very young children are identifying with the gender that has not culturally been identified with their sex (sex and gender are two different things), and they HAVE to know that that is OKAY. Gender is cultural. period. the bible is a document that was written by people seeped in the culture of the day. What is accepted for each sex has changed throughout time. Back in the day men and women were both working hard, both wearing similar clothes and both doing the same kind of work. I mean I guess this is a silly argument cus you believe the bible is God's Word and I do not. I like your blog though, the stories make me laugh. I think you are a great mom. I cannot wait to be a mom and I want to stay home with my children (although my choice has nothing to do with the Bible), but I want them to go to school and be exposed to lots of different types of people, lifestyles etc. I want them to have sex education. sex is natural, and i don't want them to be afraid of their feelings. Anywhoo. . .sorry for keeping blabbing. thanks!

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I don't get to talk to a lot of actual grown-ups during the day, so your comments make me really happy! :)