Sometimes I wish I could insulate our kids. Just for awhile...just some of the time. It's tough. I'm not usually influenced much by scare tactics. Since I'm an elementary school teacher in a public school, I know a lot of what our kids are dealing with there, and I hear all about their media interests. With our own children, we try to balance opportunities to be in the world with being pretty protective. Like, Kaela will go to the public school where I teach next year. We are both really excited, because I know firsthand what a great place my school is for kids, and I personally know the wonderful people we'll be trusting to educate her. Right now, she and Ben go to Christian preschool 3 days a week and to church every week, and we've been pleased with their development so far. We are always praying for wisdom in the way we rear our children, and with the things we do or don't expose them to.
But then there are other things--things that may be beyond our control. Like scary Halloween costumes. Ben handed out candy with me this year, after we went to a little pumpkin party at some friends' house. He commented on each costume--"You pretty." "You funny." "You scare me. I not give you candy." I hated that part. I thought about taking him in, but the kids were so sweet to him. I did ask the kids to take off their masks when they got to our house so we could see their faces. They were happy to do that for me, and I knew a lot of the kids--former students. Good kids, with good families. Many of them stayed to chat. That reassured Ben, and it ended up being a good night.
Here's something that really gets to me, though. I got an email warning about this movie, The Golden Compass. It's written by an atheist for children, stars Nicole Kidman, and has anti-religious themes. Honestly, I thought it would never get a foothold here in America--religious groups would surely respond strongly, and the Catholic church has already called for a ban. But when we walked around a small-town mall with a cinema this weekend, we saw the billboard. Kaela immediately ran toward it. "What's that?" she wondered. I told her she wouldn't be seeing it, we explained that it doesn't honor God, then went home and pulled up the email. There was a link to this site:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp
Then, as we were packing to leave for a funeral, I saw a snippet of the Today Show, where the show had paid for free screenings of the movie at 2 elementary schools in New England.
You have got to be kidding me!! Not only does Hollywood want to assault my children's minds, but there are schools willing to participate, too?? I thought about those parents who want their children to have perfect attendance, but will surely (surely!!) keep their kids home that day. I thought about how that may be the final straw for some parents who were considering their options for educating their kids. But mostly, I thought about the parents and kids who would have no idea, or worse, no convictions, about what their children were learning when they went to school that day. We owe our children more than this. So much more. May we always be vigilant about our children's education, and pray for wisdom, discernment, and protection for our little ones.
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