Why I Don’t Want a Village Raising My Child

This came out a couple weeks ago and I’ve had it on the back burner to blog about because I DO want to voice my opinion on this.  (Let me insert a disclaimer here – I try NOT to get political on the blog.  I know you like deals and saving money and crafts and fun things to do.  So I try to stick to that.  But when it comes to MY CHILD it doesn’t fall under the category of “political” in my book.  If you are a parent then you should want the same time I do….the BEST for YOUR child.)

Why I don’t want a village raising my child….

For several years now, I’ve been wanting to, hoping I could, and planning on homeschooling Bug.  (I have one more year to make it happen…)  I teach preschool at a private facility. But I know many educators in the public school system – teachers, principals, school board members – and I admire them tremendously.   But the government run, public school system is a scary place…in many ways.

In case you haven’t seen, this is an MSNBC segment from a couple weeks ago:

Did you hear this part?

We have to break through our kind of private idea that kids belong to their parents or kids belong to their families and recognize that kids belong to whole communities. Once it’s everybody’s responsibility, and not just the households’, then we start making better investments.

Go back and read that again.  We have to break through our kind of private idea that kids belong to their parents.  EXCUSE ME?  Who carried my child for 9 months?  Who labored for 12 hours with him?  Who pushed him out of my body?  He belongs to me.  He is MY child and MY responsibility.  Now, you don’t have to look far to see that responsibility is something seriously lacking in our culture today.  So I’m sure a lot of people would love the opportunity to turn the responsibility of raising their children over to someone else….in fact, many already do.

In the present day homeschooling is looked down upon.  But historically, children were taught in the home or in small groups.  And it was the parent’s responsibility to give their children the education and skills needed for a successful life.  And then somewhere along the way the government stepped in and said, “Hey, we can do this better.”  And then they made a royal mess of it.  Now, people you don’t know are teaching your child.  Think about how many teachers your child has from Kindergarten to 12th grade.  People who you don’t know their religious beliefs, political agendas or lifestyle choices are teaching your child.  And chances are those things show through from that teacher to your child.  Even if it is just subtly – and sometimes, being subtle is worse than blasting an idea with a megaphone.  Because subtly, it just creeps in your mind and sometimes even hides until an opportune time to surface.

But I’m starting to get off point.  The point is, they, and I’m trying to come up with an appropriate description to who “they” are – progressives, liberals, liberal progressives, big government, socialist, people who find socialism appealing – THEY want you to think that once you bring that baby home from the hospital it’s THEIRS.   And I’m being generous in assuming they’ll wait until you bring the baby home from the hospital.  With the way healthcare is going, you’d better pray for a healthy baby or they may start making choices for your child before you ever leave the hospital.

Now, let me address some questions you may have.

Is homeschooling right for everyone?  NO

Are all schools bad?  NO

Are all teachers bad?  NO

But the government pours tons of money (more than ever in history) into education and what do we have to show for it?   A pretty pathetic educational system as a whole.  Bad test scores across the board, failing schools, students behind their peers around the world, violence and bullying in school, drugs, unsafe schools, teachers that prey on their students sexually, and a myriad of other terrifying things.  I saw a political cartoon recently where a kid was asking the teacher if they were taking a test and the teacher replied “No, this is a test to see if you’re ready to take the tests that tests you for the test.”  Yeah, that sounds funny but I know way to many teachers that feel that is true.  They have to worry about testing their kids and getting them ready to pass these tests so the government can track their progress but it takes up so much of their time they don’t get to actually teach and teach well.

And THEY (this is that collective “they” I mentioned before) want us to think that giving them MORE control is going to improve these things?

NO.

I want my child.  I want to raise him, I want to teach him.  I want him to learn OUR morals, OUR family values.  I tell my preschool parents at the beginning of the year that all the academics in the preschool classroom are important but by the end of the year the first thing I want them to walk away with is a love for Jesus and a love for learning.  If they still stumble over the numbers that come after 15, if they still write their “e”s backwards or if they still misspell their last name, it doesn’t matter.  As long as they love to learn everything else will fall into place.

But I’m not sure the plan THEY have is to instill a love of learning.  They just want test scores.  And they want parents who turn their children over to them and let them teach their own agenda.  But that’s a rant for another day.  Familiarize yourself with all this Common Core stuff coming up and the history books that are distorting 9/11 and making America out to be the bad guy. (FYI, these are history books being used in American schools.)

I don’t want to send my young, impressionable child out into a battlefield every day and then have to “debrief” him every day on what he saw and heard.  And some of you might say, “Oh but children need experiences.  They don’t need to be sheltered.   You don’t want them to introverted hermits.”

To that I say, I don’t need to send my 5 or 6 year old into an environment where he learns disrespect, foul language and bullying from the other children to give him “experiences”.    As a parent, it is your DUTY to protect your children, “let them be little” and guard their precious, pure hearts.  Letting our kids grow up to fast is part of our problem.

Check out LivingWellSpendingLess.com for 5 ways to step up and take responsibility for your child.