Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

SCHOOL IMPERIALISM: ORANGE COUNTY, CA. REFUSES TO ALLOW PARENTS TO OPT THEIR CHILDREN OUT OF LGBT INDOCTRINATION SESSIONS

I find this unbelievable. Parents of children in Orange County, CA have been refused permission to exempt their children from LGBT indoctrination classes.  Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council  writes:

It's every parent's worst nightmare: someone exposes your kids to something harmful -- and you can't stop them. That's exactly the situation in Orange County, California, where the school district has decided that LGBT lessons are too important to let families opt out.

In a story that almost has to be read to be believed, Fox News's Todd Starnes reprints the policy in black and white. "Parents who disagree with the instructional materials related to gender, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation may not excuse their children from this instruction," the memo from the Orange County Board of Education warns.

Todd couldn't believe his eyes, so he called a district spokesman who confirmed that kids would be forced to attend the schools' LGBT indoctrination sessions. Then, in what was supposed to offer some reassurance, he went on to say that while parents may have no authority over what their kids learn in class, they had the district's approval to rebut the materials at home. "Parents are free to advise their children that they disagree with some or all of the information presented in the instructional program and express their views on these subjects to their children." You mean you'll let us make the decisions when our kids are home? How thoughtful.

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.

"THIRD PARTY REPRODUCTION" CORRUPTS AND PERVERTS THE PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIP

Alena S. Newman titles her article, "Manufactured people have rights too."   It carries the subtitle, "Third party reproduction disrespects the humanity of donor-conceived people."    This is a powerful and insightful article.  Our so-called "enlightened age" gets darker and darker by the day and the hour. 

Third party reproduction disrespects the humanity of donor-conceived people. - See more at: http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/manufactured_people_have_rights_too#sthash.RhCC2I6Q.dpuf

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.

THE CHINESE STYLE OF PARENTING - AMY CHUA

- (See updates at the end of the post; also, we need to be reminded that genes play a role not discussed in the article)

The Wall Street Journal recently published a "cat-among-the-pigeons" piece by Amy Chua, "Why Chinese Mothers are Superior."  It's subtitle is equally provocative:  "Can a regimen of no playdates, no TV, no
computer games and hours of music practice create happy kids?  And what happens when they fight back?"

It's an extreme approach, no doubt, but the article  definitely offers a counter to the laissez-faire method currently in vogue in America.  In the Chua household the two daughters, Sophia and Louisa, were never allowed to attend a sleepover, be in a school play, watch TV or play computer games, choose their own extracurricular activities, get any grade less than an A, or play any instrument other than the piano or violin.

Here are a few excerpts from Chua's article:

  "..When Western parents think they're being strict, they usually don't come close to being Chinese mothers.  For example, my Western friends who consider themselves strict make their children practice their instruments 30 minutes every day.  An hour at most.  For a Chinese mother, the first hour is the easy part. It's hours two and three that get tough."

Empowerment: Women Now Choose Objectification Over ‘Creepy’ Breastfeeding

What does one say about a woman like Kathryn Blundell, who says breastfeeding is creepy?  She claims she wants her body back and doesn't want a "teeny, tiny, innocent baby latching on where only a lover has been before."  I kid you not.  That is Blundell's published statement.  And believe it or not, she is the editor of the parenting magazine, Mother &  Baby.   Lori Ziganto offers her take:

What bothers me immensely is the fact that women now see their breasts as “fun bags” and as something meant for “lovers” only and not as a part of nurturing and motherhood. This concept epitomizes the very worst in female and motherhood degradation and it shows just how much damage the “sexual empowerment” fallacy, pushed by the Leftist Femisogynists, has caused. The thought that women should exist solely as sex objects is now rampant — even amongst women themselves.

The theory behind this whole article, in a woman’s parenting magazine, is that motherhood and nurturing a child is, as they always claim, a punishment. Something that results in the cramping of one’s “empowered” style. Sex is super fun! Motherhood? Not so much. Also, creepy. And anyone who says otherwise is a nutty wing nut liar!

They have ended up diminishing women and womanhood itself with these constant attempts to demonize motherhood and to try to turn it into a punishment and a detriment to one’s happiness. Instead of realizing that being a life bearing nurturer is one of the very best things about being a woman and is an attribute in and of itself, they constantly try to take that away, all in the name of some delusional perceived equality via sexual empowerment.  [more . . .]

Me:  Blundell represents the creepiness of a culture out of its mind, a culture in rebellion against the "created order" which God designed for the flourishing of all.

PORNOGRAPHY - THE DIFFERENCE BEING A PARENT MAKES

- Albert Mohler expands on Steve Jobs' refusal to allow porn applications for the IPhone, Ppod and Ipad.  Good decision. 

- On the other hand, Apple Removed iPhone App that Criticizes Islam, Mohammed, Koran.  A dhimmi move.  Bad decision.

WILLIAM WILBERFORCE'S LETTERS TO HIS CHILDREN

Mark Early of Prison Fellowship writes:

You’re probably familiar by now with William Wilberforce, the great Christian statesman who led the fight against the British slave trade. You probably know, too, that Wilberforce is an inspiration for so much of the work we do here at Prison Fellowship and BreakPoint. But how much do you know about William Wilberforce the father?

Wilberforce and his wife, Barbara, had four sons and two daughters. Despite the overwhelming weight of his religious and political duties, Wilberforce made his children a priority. And when they were away at school, he showered them with letters. Those letters tell the story of a father who was loving, encouraging, and always anxious for their spiritual welfare.

My friend Stephanie Byrd thought that this side of the great man deserved attention. And she’s right. She’s put together a book called Amazing Dad: Letters from William Wilberforce to His Children.

In the extensive excerpts from his letters, we see him advise his children about education, career, time management, and financial generosity, but most of all on the importance of a strong and secure faith in God. Without that faith, he told them over and over again, none of the rest mattered.

Having misspent his own youth before his dramatic conversion to Christ, Wilberforce wanted to make sure his children were grounded in the faith from their earliest years. Unlike many other parents in early 19th-century Britain, Wilberforce was far more concerned with their spiritual success than with their worldly success.

His priorities for them were always in the right order. When he wrote to his son Robert, he said,

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.)

TED TRIPP - BIBLICAL PARENTING CONFERENCE (VIDEOS & MP3s)

Andy Naselli offers videos and mp3s of all 5 sessions.

 

HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW YOUR TEEN?

I saw these questions in Relay magazine and thought them worth passing along.  The article reads: "You think you know your children. but do you?  This test can help.  Plan to sit with your teen and compare your answers!"

1. Who is your teen's best friend?
2. Your teen's favourite rock group?
3. What are his/her favourite classes at school?
4. Of what accomplishment is your teen the proudest?
5. Is your teen saving money right now?  For what?
6. What is your teen's favourite TVprogram?  Website?
7. What is your teen's biggest complaint about your family?

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)

Anita Renfroe's "The Momsense" Set to the William Tell Overture

I think I first encountered this fantastic 3 minute video by comedian Anita Renfroe at Jill Stanek's pro-life blog, and then I saw her on one of the morning TV programs (which I rarely, if ever, watch).  Apparently she participates in Women of Faith conferences and is making the rounds of TV programs.  She's fantastic.  Here is Hannah Storm of CBS News "Early Show" conducting an interview with comedian Renfroe.