http://detroitus.wordpress.com/2008/07/22/confused-babies-april-2008/ Inane ravings of an irreverent slacker Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:52:31 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 http://detroitus.wordpress.com/2008/07/22/confused-babies-april-2008/#comment-2 amayala Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:52:20 +0000 http://detroitus.wordpress.com/?p=11#comment-2 I agree that it is nearly impossible to shelter your child entirely from differing world views unless they spend their whole lives locked up in the house. Especially, for example, if the parents come from two religious backgrounds, eventually the parents are going to have to say, "Take the kid to your church, but if he chooses to go a different way, then let him." Or if a kid comes up with a tough question about the Bible like, "How does a person resurrect?" then it's even more stupid to pretend that you know it all. However, on one level, it is important for parents to support each other's decisions in areas like discipline and household management and for children to see parents acting as a unit. If parents contradict each other constantly when it comes to raising the kid--(i.e. how late they can stay up, how much junk food they can eat, when kids have to "check in" with the cell phone)--kids really DO get confused about what the expectations are and then they end up making life insane. I think what I have seen to be the worst is parents who encourage their kids to drink at an early age and don't model discretion in their own alcohol intake. Some things, in my opinion, should not just be left up to the kid to decide. I agree that it is nearly impossible to shelter your child entirely from differing world views unless they spend their whole lives locked up in the house. Especially, for example, if the parents come from two religious backgrounds, eventually the parents are going to have to say, “Take the kid to your church, but if he chooses to go a different way, then let him.” Or if a kid comes up with a tough question about the Bible like, “How does a person resurrect?” then it’s even more stupid to pretend that you know it all. However, on one level, it is important for parents to support each other’s decisions in areas like discipline and household management and for children to see parents acting as a unit. If parents contradict each other constantly when it comes to raising the kid–(i.e. how late they can stay up, how much junk food they can eat, when kids have to “check in” with the cell phone)–kids really DO get confused about what the expectations are and then they end up making life insane. I think what I have seen to be the worst is parents who encourage their kids to drink at an early age and don’t model discretion in their own alcohol intake. Some things, in my opinion, should not just be left up to the kid to decide.

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