Raising children in this modern age of impending but inevitable disaster is a monumental task. Do we protect them from the horrors of the world, or do we prepare them to deal with the realities of their future?
Sir Knight and I have wrestled with these questions for years. Do we try to ensure a carefree, naive childhood for our children and then turn them out, unequipped, into a broken world, or do we prepare them, train them, and give them the skills they will need to survive?
As parents, it is our duty to raise our children to become productive members of society. We must equip them to function in whatever world they have inherited. Childhood, contrary to popular belief, is the training ground for adulthood. It is a time of intense learning. A time of forming the character that will define a person throughout their entire lifetime. Childhood is the moment in time the character of our nation is formed, either good or bad. If we fail to mold these children, our future will be lost.
As parents, our first inclination is to protect our children at all costs. We want to shield them from a corrupt world. And of course, when they are little, the broken world is our burden to bear, not theirs. But as they grow in stature and knowledge, our world becomes their world. It is our job to prepare them to meet it head-on.
We walk with our feet in two worlds. In one world, we are preparing our children to succeed in their chosen field, find a spouse, live a happy and successful life. In the other world, we are preparing our children to fight the good fight. To stand for what they believe in, no matter the cost. To endure hardship, stand their ground and hold the line. We are teaching them to see past their future into their eternity. We are choosing to prepare them for life rather than protect them from it.
Current wisdom dictates that we protect our children from every bad thing. We have to keep them safe at any cost. But, if you just look, you know that the cost has been too high. We have retarded our children's growth, frustrating them and stunting them in the process. When my mother was a little girl, she was broiling bacon in the oven by the time she was 5 years old. She knew how to do the dishes, make simple meals and care for her younger sister. She was 5! It was not uncommon during the days of the pioneers for a young girl of 11 to step into the role of the woman of the house. She would cook, all of the meals from scratch, care for the children and keep the house up - not to mention milk the cow, care for the garden and mend all of the clothing. None of us want that for our children, but, if TEOTWAWKI were to happen, wouldn't you want your children to know how to do all of those things so they could live? I certainly would.
How many times do you see naughty, undisciplined children creating mayhem in some public setting? Too many times to count, I'm afraid. These children need to be trained, to be useful, to be helpful. They need a job to do - and I don't mean something like wiping the table, I mean a real job. They need to be learning to broil bacon (I don't care if they are 5, they are more capable than you give them credit for), peel the potatoes and pull the weeds. They need to have responsibility. They need to be useful.
As a mother, I take every precaution to protect my children from unnecessary danger. When my 5 year old is broiling the bacon, I make sure I am close by, watching his steps. When my 8 year old traipses off through the woods, I make sure she takes a radio and her emergency whistle. When my 14 year old goes hunting, I make sure I know what roads she is taking. I make sure that she knows how to shoot well and that she knows how to properly gut her kill. When my 17 year old uses the chain saw, I make sure that he wears his Kevlar saw chaps and eye protection. When my 24 year old heads off to a foreign country, I make sure that she maps a route home, always has a method of communication and, most importantly, has her faith and trust firmly planted in God alone.
Sir Knight and I can't shield our children from the world, but we can equip them to live in it. We have chosen to protect our children by preparing them.
How you are raising your children is to be commended. It is not the easy way, it is not the popular way. Yet, you persevere, knowing what you are doing is right for your family.
ReplyDeletePeople build or buy houses with "family" rooms for the kids to play or hang out in, so they are not underfoot. We have one of those houses after years of raising kids in close quarters. Personally, I prefer the close quarters. No one is ever bored while they are cooking, cleaning, helping, washing, weeding...all the things you listed. People buy their kids toy ovens and tools and then they don't teach the kids how to use the real thing later on.
I'm preaching to the choir...
Thank you, Enola. Another great blog post.
sidetracksusie
Children are capable of so much more than we usually ask of them. After a horrible car accident I was out of commission for two years. Eleven and twelve and nine year old girls milked the cows, grew a vegetable garden, cooked all the meals and did all the laundry and housework. I salute them for only complaining once or twice a week! Only three or four times, total, did anyone have to be bribed to milk the cows (18 of them). Only once did wash water get dumped into the milk bulk tank...and I have known several grown men who did the same thing! Those days are the memories that always get dragged out at family get-togethers. If there is going to be an evening of "remember whens"...that will be the time everyone wants to talk and laugh about. They each approached a grown woman's world and made the grade.
ReplyDeleteThey are all three grown and gone now. Those experiences made them ready to meet the world and own it!
I couldn't agree more with your posting. I always tell anyone who will listen that you do you children no favors by shielding them from real life. That it is our job to raise them up to deal with the real world when we can't be there. When our children became of driving age we helped them get a car we did not buy them a car. Children need a job so that they can build self esteem.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you have the Kevlar chaps and use them. I worked on a small tree (Up to about 30" diameter) trail clearing crew nearly 30 years ago and we would have lost a kid without them. His (very well maintained I might add) chain broke on his saw. It went around about 4 times before it stopped. It took the leather toe covering off of the steel toe on his boot and cut through the heavy nylon 4 times to expose the Kevlar in his chaps on his right thigh. It would have cut his quadracept to the bone and I am sure he would have bleed to death before we even made it to the highway. He had a little brusing and that was it. For about $80 - $100 that is one of the best "insurance" policies you can buy! Natokadn
ReplyDeleteWhile I don't think civilization is on the brink of collapse, the world has its challenges, and you need to be ready for them as best you can-what my Dad called "facing the world". My parents taught me the everyday things-from changing a light switch to how to tell which spark plug is fouled out and everything in between.
ReplyDeleteI knew how to read when I went into kindergarten. Looking back on things, I'm truly grateful for the parents I had..
Amen! I have this peculiar theory that mankind is pre-programmed to deal with a certain level of strife and hardship, and when that is denied due to "living the good life" of modern times, man creates artificial strife and hardship in the form of bullying, fighting, ungratefulness, and other unproductive activities. If these people had to hunt their next meal, or plow the ground by hand, or do other old-fashioned hard work they'd have far less energy to spend complaining!
ReplyDeleteI do want my kids to have time to daydream, kick rocks, and just be kids. But they also need to know that they can't just coast through life. There's work to be done! My kids are the only kids I know who have real chores, with real life consequences. Don't feed the chickens? No eggs. Leave the gate open? Chase down chickens and bury those who wandered too close to the dogs.
great article Enola! this is exactly how my grandma, ma, and I were raised up and exactly how I raised my own son. (who is soon to be a papa to a little girl and not a princess).
ReplyDeleteEnola,
ReplyDelete(captaincrunch)
I have been on other blogs lately including some of 3 percenter blogs. I've met up with a blogger in my AO "lagunamadrepirate" and we went to the range on Sunday with others for a training session.
heres the link to what I have been up too.
http://lagunamadrepirate.wordpress.com/2013/07/07/barley-and-hoppes/
On a side note after the NSA/Edward Snowden affair I finally threw in the towel on this country. I told my mother (my last living relative) I no longer want the American flag draped over my coffin when I am dead (If there's a country left when I am dead) I am a veteran from when America had some principals and a few good leaders left. Now I think this country is a police state. The next stage of the collapse will be a few "Ruby Ridges" and a few Waco's with Eric Holder leading the way like Janet Reno did. God forbid another "Oklahoma City" in response to what happens in the future and I would not put it past some evil people working for the feds to pull off a staged event to gain support from the public and the "occupy wallstreet crowd" and to vilify gun owners and like minded individuals.
The more you tighten your grip, the more systems will slip through you fingers Govenor Tarkin (a quote by Princess Leia on the Death Star in the movie Star Wars)
That quote above is kinda what will happen. The more stringent out police state gets, the more unpopular the feds/police state will become.
My mission now is to get as many of the good guys trained up on firearms now so they can protect themselves when the "Oathbreakers" (most leo's) run away into the night like they did in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
I know a few leo's (law enforcement officers) are still trying and still believe in the Constitution, duty and honor but I lost respect for the majority of them (I may mount a "Go Pro" camera in my truck in case I am pulled over so I can prove my case in court if it gets to that point)
If anyone cares or if anyone is listening check out the video footage on the internet of the civil war in Egypt. That's a good preview of what could happen over here. I can see some of the 64 million people that voted in the last presidentional election and the "free stuff army" and "occupy wallstreet" crowd throwing political opponets from roof tops, killing Christian leaders, assaulting Christian women and destroying churches.
if you want more proof they (the bad guys)exist that and think this way. Check out some of the protesters in Austin, Texas during the abortion battle we had in the past weeks.
I pray that what I talk about above does not come to pass. I pray that there are no more "Oklahoma City Bombings" I pray that I am wrong, truly wrong and nothing happens and we can change things back to the normal peaceful, Constitutional America that I grew up in. However I don't think that is so. We are "beyond the event horizon" and I had my final wake up call thanks to Edward Snowden.
A country that no longer trusts its citizens, is against its citizens.
(captaincrunch)
Yeah' I made that one up.
any comments, complaints can be e-mailed to coffeeinjection@yahoo.com
I agree cpt! I have 2 US flag tattoos that im getting covered up after the last supreme court ruling..
DeleteReal parents train their children to be adults. "Adolesence" is a modern invention resulting in the nation of slackers we have today. Parents are too busy working to get stuff they dont need, and let the state raise their kids in the public school system. Then they let their kids hang out with other kids who are fools themselves. Then the parents cant figure out why or how their kids went south on them..GOD tells us how to train children in his word. Satan knows he must destroy the family and hes doingquite a job of it with the help of our UNGODLY constitution.
DeleteYou couldn't be more right, Enola.
ReplyDeleteAfter YEARS of hearing that I was demanding too much of my kids, not letting them be children, et cetera et cetera, I finally gave in.
What did I get?? The same people who were cursing me for having them out in the garden pulling weeds screaming at me for their loudness and "backtalk" (apparently I'd also sinned by teaching them that it was reasonable for them to expect a chance to tell their side of the story). So I told them to "sit down, shut up, do what you're told, and watch cartoons."
Which garnered...
...an uncooperative 12-year-old...
...a hyperactive 6-year-old with an anxiety disorder...
...a 4-year-old who knows she's in charge of the house...
...and an 18-month-old who will be raised in the way I thought was right in the first place.
There's probably still time to straighten out the middle two; LIFE will have to knock the attitude out of the older one (though I will say that the early years did at least teach her to be polite and compliant in public, and did instill some measure of a work ethic when it suits her).
There's nothing to be gained from coddling and indulging children in the way we're doing these days, save a few fleeting fuzzy emotions. It's much better to remember that they are little people-- not undersized adults, but little people who are learning, minute by minute, to be big people someday.