IT’S ‘BACK TO SCHOOL’ TIME, A MIX OF NOSTALGIA AND NEW BEGINNINGS.

In our family, it’s a first, as our almost-four-year-old son will be off to pre-school two afternoons a week.

He’s delighted, of course, but veteran moms out there will laugh to learn that I’m a wreck.

Like most mothers in my situation, I already miss the time I won’t be sharing with him.  More important, I’m concerned about the influences of the outside world he has not yet encountered in his family environment.

Toxic environment

For children, school is the outside world; and it has become a potentially toxic environment.  In Canadian society, secular humanism has infected all our institutions.  The value of the person is not recognized unconditionally.  It has become extremely difficult for parents to entrust their children’s education to strangers.

Along with a general antifamily bias in society, parents have specific curriculum concerns.

Sex ed, AIDS programs and values education classes often begin in primary school.  They are frequently at odds with parents’ values and their decisions as to when and how certain issues should be discussed.  As has been debated recently in The Interim, even the most positive sex education program can be an encroachment on parents’ territory.  Christopher Lasch entitled his book on the family Haven in a Heartless World, a description which captures the function of the traditional family in today’s society.

But the haven is under siege.

The fact that the word ‘family’ has to be qualified by ‘traditional’ is an indication of what has happened.  Any group of people who so decide may call themselves a family and in an increasing number of circumstances these alliances are legally recognized.  Pro-lifers are keenly aware of the many assaults on family life, chronicled monthly in The Interim, and lived daily in our communities.

Isolated

Traditional families often feel isolated in their communities.

Not only do fewer families remain intact, but incredibly those which include three or more children are at odds with a society which has moved toward smaller families.

Large families are a ‘visible minority’ which by their size quietly challenge the ‘politically correct’ attitude toward family life.  Feelings of isolation can lead people to question their own judgment and to wonder if they are being fair to their children.

(There’s no doubt kids pay a price for “eccentric” parents.)

At times, parents are pressured to compromise or even to capitulate.  It is very difficult to transmit a consistent set of values when it is evident to even very young children that such values are not shared by all.

Modesty

For example, parents try to teach their children modesty, but all summer long at the pools or the beach or the shopping malls, suntanned bodies strut about held together by bits of string.

No doubt many mothers endured the bathing suit hint this summer.  Shopping for a woman’s or girl’s bathing suit is an ordeal if modesty is any consideration.

Don’t even bother to factor in fashion.

Even shopping for a two-year-old, I found out, involves sifting through dozens of ‘sexy’ bathing suits with cut-out midriffs and high-cut legs.  Not that a toddler could possibly be immodest, but the styles reflect an image which, in my opinion, is not appropriate for children.

This is but one small example, a pet peeve, if you will, of the constant grind of ‘going against the grain’ which many parents experience.

Education

When shopping for bathing suits, what you see is what you get, and it is easy enough to shop until you’re reasonably satisfied.  When it comes to education, however, the influences on young minds are very subtle.

It is much more difficult for a parent to detect a potential problem and often it is even harder to correct.

The best we can do is to seek out like-minded people, and make an effort to expose our children to positive role models outside as well as with in the family.  Some of our greatest friends have been made through pro-life, and it is hoped that through this column, pro-life families can share and discuss their particular concerns.

So, into this heartless world, I send my little son.  For all my grave doubts, I believe it would be a mistake to retreat too hastily.  With faith in God, and a very watchful eye, we’ll give the world a little try.

Two afternoons a week.