The minute you tell someone that you homeschool, you get a variety of responses. Sometimes, if you are lucky, you might get a look of wonderment followed by, "That's awesome. Good for you." However, there are times that you will hear, "You know, you can't protect your child from everything!" Duh! I am not on a quest to raise my children in a bubble.
This kind of thinking has resulted in a generation forfeiting their childhood! I don't buy into that thinking.
I CAN protect my children from a great deal of twisted beliefs that society says are just fine.
My children don't need to think it is fine to have a boyfriend/girlfriend in 2nd grade. My children don't need to think it is acceptable to disrespect adults. I don't think my daughters need to dress like a teenager when they are 5! I don't take my kids to see most movies because I don't want them repeating the lines of the movie. How about raising kids to be ladies and gentlemen? I plan on raising my kids to be respectful and polite. I think our country would benefit greatly if we moved away from the Desperate Housewives way of thinking and moved back towards a Leave It to Beaver mindset.
We have become so complacent. We don't even flinch when a commercial for erectile dysfunction comes on during a "family" program. Have you watched ABC family? It is not for families! I can't protect my kids from that? Yes, I can. We don't think twice about buying our 5 year old daughters shirts that say, "I love Zak Efron!" How does a girl that young even know who Zak Efron is? Again, I can protect my daughter from this! Kids will eventually learn the "ways of the world". However, we as parents are in charge of setting that timeline. I know my kids will learn about sex, but not at 8 and not from a sitcom on TV. I know my kids will learn about drugs, but not at 12 behind the playground after school. I know my kids will learn all kinds of colorful language, but not from me or the shows they watch on TV.
Now, I know I can't protect my kids from hearing the guy at Wal-Mart who can't string together a sentence without using a few four letter words. But at least when they hear it, they won't be able to say, "Hey, I know what that means."
Protecting children is a constant battle. I know I can't put them in a bubble and prevent any exposure to the world. Yet, I am not about to throw in the towel.
Edited to add: I agree with Busygoddess...preparing your kids is important! That is what I meant by YOUR timeline. You get to decide when you teach your kids about things. Notice, I said YOU, not TV, other kids, etc. Thanks for the comment Busygoddess.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
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2 comments:
Yep, pretty much in complete agreement with you on this. I know I can't protect my kids form everything, and I have no intention of sending them off to college at 18 completely naive of the concepts of drugs, alcohol, sex, etc. However, I see nothing worng with preparing them for dealing with that stuff before they're exposed to it. I want my kids to know who they are & be confident in themselves so they're less likely to buckle to peer pressure to smoke a joint or drink a beer. Think about the unwanted pregnancies that could be avoided or the spread of STDs that could be at least slowed, if parents would actually TALK to their kids about sex - the consequences of having it, real reasons why they should wait, and how to be safe when they finally do it. Apparently, though, most would rather let their kids learn about that from TV or movies, let them dress like adults before they even hit puberty, and somehow figure it'll all work out anyway.Think of all the playground fights that could be avoided if we taught our kids conflict resolution skills. It seems that many people prefer to believe that it's better to get beat up everyday, because it gives you character or makes you stronger. Or, in some cases, causes you to bring a gun to school one day & start shooting.
Yeah, let's not protect our kids at all. Let's not let them have a childhood. It's much better to just push them into being adults by the time they're 7. Childhood is overrated anyway, right? And people wonder why our society is the way it is?
It's not even just protecting them so that they are not exposed to it at a younger age than necessary. It's that if exposed to anything long enough, it becomes the norm, which becomes acceptable (on some level), which then shuns the old form of acceptable behavior as "old fashioned" or "not open minded". It's a slipper slop of a downward spiral to guttersville.
We are losing touch with our children, with character building skills, solid morals, respectable manners... and while I might sound like my husbands grandma, she was a good respectable person that I look up to and respect. A solid role model. Which is what these girls need and deserve.
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