Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

"A PLACE IN THE CHOIR"

Time for some fun!  A friend sent me the following video which delighted me no end!  Enjoy!

 

This family rendition, with children participating, might inspire other families to join in the fun, too!

ROD DREHER'S PRECOCIOUS 11 YEAR OLD VISITS WASHINGTON, DC

I really loved this post.   Rod Dreher's remarkable blog never fails to stimulate; this post struck me as particularly unique.   It would be quite an experience to meet the little Miss Nora!!

I told y’all that I was doing something neat on Friday. Well, here it is. That’s a shot of my daughter Nora in the control room at NPR in Washington, watching Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep broadcast. We are here because Nora is a massive public radio fan, and my kind friend Miranda Kennedy, senior editor at Morning Edition, invited her to shadow her for the morning. You might recall that I decided to spend my 50th birthday year taking each one of my kids on a special trip. This is Nora’s.

It might sound weird to you that an 11-year-old girl would be really into NPR, especially a girl from a conservative Orthodox Christian family. But she is. Our family is eccentric and eclectic that way. What’s funny to me is that Nora knows no TV news personalities, but she can tell you all about NPR hosts and correspondents. She was thrilled — really, thrilled — to meet Steve Inskeep and Rachel Martin this morning, though for her, the gold standard is Lakshmi Singh. After I was at NPR in March being interviewed about The Benedict Option, Nora asked me, “Did you meet Lakshmi Singh?”  (more...)

Update: Rod and Little Miss Nora spent Sunday morning at the home of David and Ann Brooks.  Short account here.

 

KIDS NEED TO BE IN THE KITCHEN

I greatly enjoyed an article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal titled "There's No School Like the Kitchen."  The online version carries the subtitle, "Cooking helps kids learn, appreciate different cultures and refine their motor skills."  I found Lorraine Allen's article both intriguing and convincing.  She writes:

My husband and I cook daily for our 8-year-old daughter because, like 15 million other Americans (an estimated two children per classroom), she has food allergies. For our daughter, this ritual is inspiring and educational. She loves helping out—rolling dough, mixing sauces—and creating her own dishes, from tarts to homemade linguine. At age 6 she opened her own allergy-friendly bakery. I’m no gourmet chef, but I spent much of my own childhood helping my grandmother in the kitchen, a lucky thing, I now know.

As our child grows, I’ve come to realize that helping in the kitchen develops far more than basic cooking skills. Children gain countless crucial developmental skills, and because they absorb these lessons in a hands-on, playful way, they are immediately engaged without parental nagging.

For toddlers, the kitchen is a perfect place to hone their gross and fine motor skills, using their hands to wash and peel produce, stir sauce, or dig out a measure of flour or pinch of salt. A preschooler will gain important cognitive skills from sorting forks and spoons, matching lids on sippy cups, and avoiding a hot stove.

FOUR RIDDLES FOR THE KIDS

(Courtesy of my friend Joyce and mikeysfunnies) - 

Riddle @1:

Alice: What do you get if you cross an iPad with a Christmas tree?
Johnny: I don't know. What?
Alice: A pineapple!

Riddle #2:

Phil: Where do snowmen keep their money?
Bill: Beats me.
Phil: In a snow bank.

Ridle #3:

Josh: What does Jack Frost like best about school?
John: What?
Josh: Snow and tell.

Riddle #4:

Trey: What do you get when you cross a snowman and a dog?
Brandon: I give up.
Trey: Frostbite.

QUICK TAKES

Peter Stamford reports:  Are Smartphones Making our Children Mentally Ill?

Steve Wozniak - The Future of AI is Scary and Very Bad for People

V.S. Naipaul - Nobel winner says Isis is Now the Fourth Reich

Mark Levin - "We Don't Need a Governor as President"  (True)

SURGE IN "DIGITAL DEMENTIA"

This should give us all pause ... 

"Doctors in South Korea are reporting a surge in "digital dementia" among young people who have become so reliant on electronic devices that they can no longer remember everyday details like their phone numbers."

Julian Ryall reports:

South Korea is one of the most digitally connected nations in the world and the problem of internet addiction among both adults and children was recognised as far back as the late 1990s.

That is now developing into the early onset of digital dementia – a term coined in South Korea – meaning a deterioration in cognitive abilities that is more commonly seen in people who have suffered a head injury or psychiatric illness.

"Over-use of smartphones and game devices hampers the balanced development of the brain," Byun Gi-won, a doctor at the Balance Brain Centre in Seoul, told the JoongAng Daily newspaper.

"Heavy users are likely to develop the left side of their brains, leaving the right side untapped or underdeveloped," he said.

The right side of the brain is linked with concentration and its failure to develop will affect attention and memory span, which could in as many as 15 per cent of cases lead to the early onset of dementia.

Sufferers are also reported to suffer emotional underdevelopment, with children more at risk than adults because their brains are still growing.

The situation appears to be worsening, doctors report, with the percentage of people aged between 10 and 19 who use their smartphones for more than seven hours every day leaping to 18.4 per cent, an increase of seven per cent from last year.

More than 67 per cent of South Koreans have a smartphone, the highest in the world, with that figure standing at more than 64 per cent in teenagers, up from 21.4 per cent in 2011, according to the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning.

Dr Manfred Spitzer, a German neuroscientist, published a book titled "Digital Dementia" in 2012 that warned parents and teachers of the dangers of allowing children to spend too much time on a laptop, mobile phone or other electronic devices.

Dr Spitzer warned that the deficits in brain development are irreversible and called for digital media to be banned from German classrooms before children become "addicted."

FREE AUDIO INTERNET READING OF C.S. LEWIS "CHRONICLES OF NARNIA"

Read by Chrissi Hart for her Readings from Under the Grapevine podcast. The Chronicles of Narnia are published by Harper Trophy, A Division of Harper Collins, New York, New York.  Click through here.

SUPERBOWL HALFTIME - PURITY OUT THE WINDOW

I didn't watch the  Superbowl halftime program.  In fact I just got in on the final 3 minutes of the game, the most exciting part.  But knowing what I know of contemporary American culture, I have every confidence John Stonestreet got it right when he writes in Beyonce and the Super Bowl:

Rachel Campos-Duffy, a blogger on the Today Show’s “Moms” site, described Monday how watching the Super Bowl like millions of other families turned into a “parenting challenge” when the halftime show began.

That’s putting the performance of Beyonce and her similarly half-dressed dancers mildly. The hyper-sensual show left Mrs. Campos-Duffy’s kids with a quizzical look on their faces. The eight-year-old simply said, “She looks weird.”

If only all our kids were so confused. But sadly, so many of them are thoroughly familiar with sexuality packaged as music and performance. As Campos-Duffy wryly observed, “I half-expected a stripper pole to pop out of the platform, which was actually staged to look like a peep show.” Well, the commercial for the CBS sitcom “Broke Girls” that immediately followed half-time featured just that—a stripper-pole.

I mean, this was the Super Bowl, for cryin’ out loud. CBS and the NFL knew very well children and families would be watching. And what they gave America with this performance and many of the commercials was another chapter in the ongoing sexualization of American culture—and of our kids.

What Happens When Toddlers Zone Out With an Ipad

Parents and grandparents might want to read this article by Ben Worthen published in the Wall Street Journal.

A CLASSICAL SCHOOL READING LIST: GRADES 1-3

The list can be found here.

PARENTS: BEWARE THE LEFTIST ASSAULT ON YOUR CHILDREN

Marybeth Hicks has written a book that seems "Must-reading" for parents.  It's titled, Don't Let the Kids Drink the Kool Aid:  Confronting the Left's Assault on Our Families, Faith, and Freedom.  I saw her interviewed on the 700 club yesterday.  

 

Her book receives praise from people I highly respect:

“Fellow moms and dads: It’s time to unite and reclaim the hearts, minds, and souls of our children from socialist indoctrinators! In shocking detail and with investigative zeal, Marybeth Hicks exposes the Left’s cradle-to-grave campaign to undermine religion, the traditional family, and free market capitalism. The best defense against this corrosive culture of entitlement and grievance is a good offense. Don’t Let the Kids Drink the Kool-Aid provides an invaluable playbook for parents who reject the Nanny State.”
—MICHELLE MALKIN, nationally syndicated columnist and author of the New York Times bestseller Culture of Corruption

“This is a tremendously important and timely book about the greatest disaster that could befall our country. No, it’s not economic—as bad as the economy is—it’s cultural, with a generation growing up utterly divorced from traditional American ideals. As Marybeth says, if we want to perpetuate America we need Americans, but our culture is rapidly undermining our children’s commitment to faith and freedom. Reading Marybeth Hicks’s Don’t Let the Kids Drink the Kool-Aid might be the most patriotic thing you do this year. If you care you about this country, please buy it, please read it, and please spread the word.”
—ERIC METAXAS, the New York Times bestselling author of Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy and Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery

“As important as it is to win the political battles, as Marybeth Hicks shows in her stunning new book Don’t Let the Kids Drink the Kool-Aid, if we don’t win the cultural battle for our children’s minds and hearts, we’ll have no future at all. Too many of us dismiss the propaganda of the liberal media, the public schools, and popular culture as harmless, but as Marybeth shows, it has demonstrably changed the way the next generation of Americans is thinking. Buy this book, be warned, and better yet—follow my friend Marybeth’s advice and take action.”
—DAVID LIMBAUGH, nationally syndicated columnist and author of the New York Times bestseller Crimes Against Liberty

Her columns for the Washington Times can be found here.  Previous books include Bringing Up Geeks: How to Protect Your Kid's Childhood in a Grow-Up-Too-Fast World and The Perfect World Inside My Minivan -- One mom's journey through the streets of suburbia.

CHRISTMAS STORY FROM THE JESUS STORYBOOK BIBLE

Great storytelling!  I liked this a lot.  (Side benefit:  it gives a young child a chance to hear a fine British accent!)  It will take 45 seconds to start.  Hang in there; it's worth it!  (HT: Justin Taylor)

 

THE STORY OF JONAH

This little girl tells the story of Jonah better than 99 out of 100 others could tell it, no matter what their age.  Enjoy!  (HT: LG e-mail)

The story of Jonah from Corinth Baptist Church on Vimeo.

 

KIDS

From an e-mail:

More photos follow . . .

SPERM DONOR KIDS ARE STRUGGLING

Chuck Colson writes:

It’s sad but not surprising—the children of sperm donors are having problems. The Commission on Parenthood’s Future has released a new study titled “My Daddy’s Name Is Donor,” in which 485 adult offspring of sperm donors were surveyed.

Compared with both adopted children and children raised by their biological parents, donor offspring are struggling—and they’re struggling in ways that should have been foreseen.

The authors of the study write, “[O]n average, young adults conceived through sperm donation are hurting more, are more confused, and feel more isolated from their families. They fare worse than their peers raised by biological parents on important outcomes like depression, delinquency and substance abuse.”

They also note, “Donor offspring express significant pain over the loss of their biological father, significantly more even when compared to those who are adopted.”

And as it turns out, sperm donation, which we were supposed to think was harmless, is damaging parents’ lives as well. The study reports that

WHY IS C. S. LEWIS'S SCHOLARSHIP SO EXCEPTIONALLY READABLE?

Maybe it's because Lewis has no problem juxtaposing the likes of John Milton with Beatrix Potter.  I find enchanting the following paragraphs from Alan Jacobs' The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C.S. Lewis:

You can see Lewis's love of children's stories in the oddest places and in the most charming ways.  In one of his most learned and scholarly books, A Preface to "Paradise Lost" -- and "Paradise Lost" is as sober and serious and adult a poem as one could imagine -- Lewis quotes his eighteenth-century predecessor at Magdalen College, Joseph Addison:  'The great moral which reigns in Milton is the most universal and most useful that can be imagined, that Obedience to the will of God makes men happy and that Disobedience makes them miserable." 

A few sentences later Lewis responds to a fellow literary critic, E. M. W. Tillyard, saying:

"It is, after all, the commonest of themes; even Peter Rabbit came to grief because he would go into Mr. McGregor's garden."

To which Alan Jacobs comments:

This is as delightful as it is wise: any literary critic who can, in the course of a few sentences, take us from the great Milton's account of the Fall of Humanity, in twelve books of stately and heroic blank verse, to Beatrix Potter's rather humbler account of Peter Rabbit's rather humbler troubles, is a critic of (to put it mildly) considerable range.  And the naturalness with which he achieves this! -- clearly it never occurs

QUICK TAKES

George Will - Too much esteem and too little sleep can ruin your child.

Meghan Cox Gurdon - Emily Post Would be Rightly Appalled

Daily Mail - Extra Small Condoms for 12 year old boys 

Time magazine - German home school family find asylum in the United States

UNDERPARENTED CHILDREN

Ed Morrissey over at Hot Air offers a review of Amy Alkon's new book, "I See Rude People: One Woman's Battle to Beat some Manners into Impolite Society."  Looks like a terrific book.  She gives a hint of what's in it via an opinion piece published in the the Los Angeles Times a few days ago.  It struck a chord with me because on two separate occasions this past week, I have encountered mothers whose goal either was (and proved successful) or currently is, to raise a child who will not be a nuisance in public or visiting friends.  Read Alkon's article here. 

KEEPING UP-TO-DATE ON "CHILD DEVELOPMENT" NONSENSE FROM THE "EXPERTS"

Did you know that self-esteem theory has now been proven ineffective, and so have tolerance and diversity emphases?  "What!?" you say.  "I thought all that was established orthodoxy amongst social scientists."  No longer.  In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Kay Hyowitz published an eye-opening review of Nurture Shock by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman.  Concerning the the latest research on self-esteem, Hymowitz writes:

As Mr. Bronson and Ms. Merryman remind us, the psychologist Nathaniel Brandon published a path-breaking paper in 1969 called "The Psychology of Self-Esteem" in which he argued that feelings of self-worth were a key to success in life. The theory became a big hit in the nation's schools; in the mid-1980s, the California Legislature even ­established a self-esteem task force. By now, there are 15,000 scholarly articles on the subject.

And what do they show? That high self-esteem doesn't improve grades, reduce ­anti-social behavior, deter alcohol drinking or do much of anything good for kids. In fact, telling kids how smart they are can be ­counterproductive. Many children who are convinced that they are little geniuses tend not to put much effort into their work. Others are troubled by the latent anxiety of adults who feel it necessary to praise them constantly.

The benefits of teaching tolerance and promoting ­diversity look equally unimpressive in the current ­research. According to "NurtureShock," a lot of well-meaning adult nostrums—"we're all friends," "we're all

REDUCING KIDS' SELF ESTEEM A GOOD IDEA

National Review Online has published a blog post of suggested summer reading entitled,"Beach Bag Books."  The book that most grabbed my attention is one suggested by Nancy French.  She writes:

Think Britney Spears, peer pressure, and Twitter are making modern kids sullen, detached, and generally rotten? Think again. Richard Weissbourd’s book about modern parenting trends places the responsibility for kids’ moral well-being squarely where it belongs — on the parents.  In his book, The Parents We Mean To Be: How Well-Intentioned Adults Undermine Children’s Moral and Emotional Development, the lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education talks about popular parenting techniques such as being “positive parents,” focusing on self-esteem, and praising our kids excessively.

And the shock is? He’s against these things.

Weissbourd’s countercultural parenting advice suggests that parents’ intense focus on their children’s happiness actually makes kids less happy, that excessive praise stunts character development, and that “over-parenting” can turn children into “fragile conformists.  Additionally, he challenges the “self-esteem” craze — the belief that if parents bolster their kids’ sense of self, they’ll invariably turn out to be good people. This is the first time in history that people have succumbed to this backwards idea about morality and explains that bullies, delinquents, and gang leaders often have the highest self-esteem.

( Nancy French is the author of A Red State of Mind: How a Catfish Queen Reject Became a Liberty Belle.)

A FETUS DELIGHTS IN HEARING MUSIC

Chuck Colson reports on a recent PBS special on the effect of music in utero, "The Music Instinct: Science & Song."

. . . The program was an exploration of, among other things, music’s “biological, emotional and psychological impact on humans.”

Part of this “exploration” included how music affects babies. If we are, as some scientists believe, “wired for music,” then babies are ideal test subjects since their reactions are, by definition, instinctual.

Part of this research involved the effect of music on fetuses. While we knew that mothers often sing to their unborn children, we weren’t sure that the unborn child could hear them.

We are now. A segment of The Music Instinct featured Sheila C. Woodward of the University of Souther California, who has studied fetal responses to music. A camera and a microphone

PRAYERS FROM THE ARK - Humor

I was thumbing through one of my files and came across an academic article that began whimsically with some quotes from Prayers from the Ark by Carmen Bernos de Gasztold.  I thought the humor delightful.  Noah's prayer begins:

Lord,
What a menagerie!
Between Your downpour and these animal cries
one cannot hear oneself think!

The cock's prayer begins and ends on a somewhat different note:

Do not forget, Lord,
it is I who make the sun rise.
.......

I am Your servant,
only do not forget, Lord,
I make the sun rise.

HOW U.N. CONVENTIONS ON WOMEN'S AND CHILDREN'S RIGHTS UNDERMINE FAMILY, RELIGION, AND SOVEREIGNTY

From the Family Research Council:

Click here to download paper.

By Patrick F. Fagan, William L. Saunders, and Michael A. Fragoso

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

U.N. committees charged with offering guidance on the obligations incumbent upon nations that have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women ("CEDAW") and the Convention on the Rights of the Child ("CRC") are, instead, advancing a radical agenda harmful to the best interests of societies and states, under the cover of providing review and recommendations. In doing so, these U.N. committees are decisively undermining the sovereignty of state parties to the treaties in matters that have always been within the domestic jurisdiction of individual states to decide. These committees have recommended -

• Legalizing prostitution and elevating it to the status of a profession
• Diminishing the legal protection of freedom of conscience
• Diminishing parental guidance for teenagers' emerging sexuality
• Promoting access to abortion, contraception, and other "medical" services for children without parental consent
• Promoting contraceptive use without regard to its social consequences
• Promoting abortion under the fiction of an international law mandate
• Demeaning traditional motherhood and those who support it
• Promoting professional child care for newborns
• Equating mild spanking of children by their parents with serious physical abuse
• Objecting to the influence of religion on society
• Objecting to the protection of rights of religious minorities

If these recommendations were followed, marriage and family would be further undermined, as would religious freedom.

ARE KIDS MORE RUDE TODAY THAN EVER?

Chuck Colson's Breakpoint discusses the question: are we reaping the fruits of over-developed self-esteem?

HOW CHILDREN COME TO FAITH IN CHRIST

I've long been interested in the spiritual life of children.  This post by Justin Taylor looks interesting:

Ryan Kelly:

In an earlier post I pointed to some resources for wrestling through the issues of the gospel, conversion, and assurance with our kids. One of the best resources I’ve found is the the Family Life Today radio interviews with Jim Elliff, “How Children Come to Faith in Christ.” You can purchase the series on audio CDs here, which I already mentioned. However, in addition I discovered that six of the sessions are available online for free:

1. Genuine Salvation: More Than a Prayer

2. How Children Come to Faith in Christ

3. Taking Our Children to Church: Is That Enough?

4. How to Deal With Doubt

5. Observing Salvation in Your Child: What Does It Look Like?

6. The Family: No Better Place to Come to Know Christ!

Transcripts are also available at the bottom of each of these pages’ links.

I cannot recommend these talks enough to any parent wanting to be thoughtful, careful, and prayerful in the salvation of their children.

TED TRIPP - BIBLICAL PARENTING CONFERENCE (VIDEOS & MP3s)

Andy Naselli offers videos and mp3s of all 5 sessions.

 

A MARINE QUIETS DOWN AN UNRULY LITTLE BOY - (Humor)

From www.mikeysFunnies.com and passed on to me by a friend:

As the crowded airliner is about to take off, the peace is shattered by a five-year-old boy who picks that moment to throw a wild temper tantrum.  No matter what his frustrated, embarrassed mother does to try to calm him down, the boy continues to scream furiously and kick the seats around him.

Suddenly, from the rear of the of the plane, an elderly man in a Marine uniform is seen slowly walking forward up the aisle.  Stopping the flustered mother with an upraised hand, the white-haired, courtly, soft-spoken Marine leans down and, motioning toward his chest, whispers

ANGELS EXPLAINED BY CHILDREN

This is just terrific.  A friend sent them to me. (Did kids really say this?  I wonder...) 

RUDYARD KIPLING'S "JUNGLE BOOK"

I am on a one-year introductory subscription to the Wall Street Journal (at a fabulous savings).  I enjoy and profit from the general interest stories fully as much, or more so, than the economic articles.  I missed reading Rudyard Kipling when I was growing up and articles like this one tempt me to pick up a Jungle book on my next trip to the library. 

 "The defining quality of great children's literature is persistence: It stays with the reader with undiminished vitality into adulthood."

That quote from the Kipling article reminds me of C.S. Lewis's astute comment:

"No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally (and often far more) worth reading at the age of fifty--except, of course, books of information.  The only imaginative works we ought to grow out of are those which it would have been better not to have read at all."
                   (From "On Stories" in "Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories)

CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL BOSTON OFFERS "SEX CHANGE" TO ADOLESCENTS

The story can be found here.   The Family Research Council comments:

The Boston Globe has published an expose on a Massachusetts doctor who recently launched a sex change program for kids.  The controversial "Gender Management" clinic, located at Children's Hospital Boston, aims to help young people delay puberty so that they can decide if they want to be a man or woman. With patients as young as 10, Dr. Norman Spack has been described as an "evangelist" for transgender kids. In a "Q&A" session with the Globe, Dr. Spack says he administers powerful hormones to help kids "rewrite their future." When asked for the most difficult ethical issue he faces, Spack

LIBERALISM AND CHILDHOOD

David L. Tubbs has written Freedom's Orphans: Contemporary Liberalism and the Fate of American Children.  (HT: Stanley Kurtz)  Amazon's book description reads:

Has contemporary liberalism's devotion to individual liberty come at the expense of our society's obligations to children? Divorce is now easy to obtain, and access to everything from violent movies to sexually explicit material is zealously protected as freedom of speech. But what of the effects on the young, with their special needs and vulnerabilities? Freedom's Orphans seeks a way out of this predicament. Poised to ignite fierce debate within and beyond academia, it documents the increasing indifference of liberal theorists and jurists to what were long deemed core elements of children's welfare.

Evaluating large changes in liberal political theory and jurisprudence, particularly American liberalism after the Second World War, David Tubbs argues that the expansion of rights for adults has come at a high and generally unnoticed cost. In championing

PUBERTY AT THE AGE OF 8

Click here for an interesting article followed by Dr. Mercola's comments, followed by reader responses (over 65 so far).

Dr. Trayce Hansen - "Love Isn't Enough: Five Reasons Why Same-Sex Marriage Harms Children

On the whole, a convincing article, well worth a thoughtful read.  (HT: The Evangelical Outpost)

Sex and Kids in America's Sex-Saturated Society

Here's a sad and disheartening  report.  The advertising industry, entertainment industry, and the education establishment have a lot to answer for (as do parents). 

Clay Jones of Second Glance Ministries says that even 10 to 14 year olds are becoming sexually active -- so many, the CDC for the first time ever is studying sexual disease rates among girls that age.

"Those young women between the ages of 10 and 14 contracted more cases of chlamydia," said Jones, "than all the women between the ages of 40 and 50 put together."

He said, "We're seeing young people seven, eight and nine years old beginning to act out sexually in ways we've never seen before."

And many Christian young people are succumbing, or at least playing up to the edge.    

. .  .  Clay Jones studies the sexual stats. And he talks a lot to youth pastors.

"Their kids are having sex," he said. "If they're not, they're participating in oral sex. And if they have young people in their groups who aren't sexually active, they're the rarity."

Cantliffe said, "So many parents have

Relativism and Christian Kids: Almost Totally Seduced

Chuck Colson has a "BreakPoint" commentary that I find chilling.   Middle School "Christian kids" resist the reality of Christianity's truth claims vis-a-vis other religions.  Colson writes:

I was dismayed a while back when I learned that a Barna survey found that “less than one out of every ten churched teenagers has a biblical worldview.” But a survey is just that, a survey. Things couldn’t be that bad, could they? Well, I recently heard a shocking story that vividly illustrates just how far relativism has infected the Church—to the point where Christian kids balk at the idea that Christianity would claim to be, of all things, true.

Four years ago, the BreakPoint staff and I launched Centurions, an intensive, year-long education program designed to equip 100 people each year to defend a biblical worldview and teach it to others.

One of our Centurions participants takes that call very seriously as she works with students at a local middle school. She sponsors a Christian club at the school, voluntary of course, and in accord with all the state laws. The students lead the club, and she mentors those leaders.

The club has been studying the ReWired curriculum, which BreakPoint created with Ron Luce’s Teen Mania. The DVD explores the four basic worldview questions: Where do I come from? Why is the world in such a mess? Is there a way to fix it? Is there a purpose for my life?

Everything was going fine until the group reached lesson 10. Lesson 10 leads the kids through a series of choices to learn to recognize the difference between matters of truth and matters of taste. One of the choices, “believing Islam, Buddhism or Christianity,” flashed on the screen.

Our Centurion—I’ll call her Joanne, told me what happened next: “The students went nuts. All but one of the eight leaders completely balked at

Britain and the "Culture of Coddling Kids"

Michelle Malkin on coddling kids.

British educators have now determined that "asking pupils to put their hands up when they think they know the answer to a question in class could make quiet children fall behind," according to the London Telegraph. To spare students from this awful terror, the British Department of Education is now recommending that children be given 30 seconds of "thinking time" before being asked to answer or told to discuss questions in pairs before answering. Instead of teaching students to conquer their shyness and stand up for themselves, educators will be encouraged to pamper them in emotional bubble wrap.

Old News Just Discovered: San Francisco Has the Smallest Share of [Human] Small Fry of Any Major U.S. City

According to a 2005 Associated Press report, "Just 14.5 percent of the city's population is 18 or under."  But on second thought, is that really surprising?  More here.

The Same-Sex Marriage Debate is About Children

Mitt Romney got it right when he said about a month ago:

Marriage is not primarily about adults. Marriage is primarily about the nurturing and development of children. A child’s development is enhanced by the nurturing of both genders. Every child deserves a mother and a father. Of course, the principal burden of the Court’s ruling doesn’t fall on

Radical Family Ideas Go Mainstream

Stanley Kurtz keeps on top of issues related to the family.  He posts today on the mainstreaming of radical redefinitions of the family. 

Update - Here's a story of a get-together of several women impregnated with the sperm of  the same anonynmous donor.   Their children are with them and playing together.

"Many of the women were pregnant at the exact same time with these chidlren who share half the same DNA.  Two of them are just 10 days part, and most, it turns out, have similar dispositions and temperaments." 

There's no embarassment here.  Lesbian couples with children are treated as completely mainstream. 

A HOMESCHOOLING MOM TESTIFIES TO HER CHILDREN'S ENTHUSIASM FOR LEARNING

"Mother Skylark" writes:

It is Friday.  We have just finished our second official week of "school."  At home, of course.

It has been such a busy couple weeks with travel, many activities relating to work and education, and trying to get a certain amount of planning and routine in place.  I have felt overwhelmed and underprepared already.  The amazing thing is that that hasn't mattered so much.  Because we've chosen materials that will promote learning and curiosity and stimulate the children's minds and creativity, the children carry themselves through their studies quite eagerly.  I am little more than a guide.  I don't teach as much as place stategic materials or books or ideas in front of them and then step back to watch them interact with all the natural capacities and eagerness that are natural to children and which, I might add, formal schooling so often seems to strip them of.  It is one of the great rewards of home education to have your children begging to get their math books out and complaining when told it's time to put them away.

A CHILD'S DISCERNMENT OF GOOD WRITING

"Mother Skylark" recently posted:

I read recently that:  "English majors now find sustained prose a drag...a literature major at George Washinton University recently reported on a hands-up poll [taken in her class] revealed that only half of the upper-classmen had bothered to finish the assigned "All the Kings Men," a best-selling favorite of previous student generations. Why? 'Boring!' 'Too hard to follow.' Another classmate commented on Sarah Orne Jewette's beautifully written "The Country of the Pointed Firs" 'went so slowly that it seemed like it was written by a retarded person.' " She concluded by stating, "To read well, minds must be trained to use language, to reflect, to persist in solving problems."

It is one of many reasons we use well-written literary books in everything we study.  I have been reading to the kids once a week from a thoughtful devotional book for children called "Leading Little Ones to God."  Among the vast quantities of unspiritual silly rubbish we stuff into our children's minds because it's "Christian" this seemed to be a decent intelligent book.  However, today we were reading a retelling of the story of Joseph, under the category of "God turns our troubles into good" when SuperBoy interupted with, "The writer of this book does not know how to make good sentences.  She doesn't tell the story very well." (We usually