I believe it is a parent's responsibility to raise their children, not the school, not the church, not the "village." Religious instruction may be helpful, but I don't believe it's required. I had absolutely no religious instruction until I met my husband and started, eventually, taking classes on the Catholic faith.
When I was eight years old, my mom explained to me that if I could stay home by myself and behave, that the money she saved on day care for me would enable us to buy our own house. I agreed to behave. This was pretty significant because mom worked six days a week from 6 PM until about 2 AM as a cocktail waitress. Social Services would have considered her leaving me aloneduring that time as unacceptable. But I behaved myself, pretty much, and we got by.
My mom had only two forms of discipline if I misbehaved. And she never disciplined me while she was angry. She would always wait a couple of days until we could both see the situation calmly. (Well she was calm. I would be pretty nervous.) The first form of discipline was a lecture explaining what I had done wrong, why it was wrong, including a discussion of the negative outcomes, if any. The second form included the first plus a whipping with a belt. Social Services would also have considered this unacceptable. But for some reason I understood why it was necessary.
As an example of this, when I first started sixth grade, I was completely bored and started a campaign of being disruptive and obnoxious in class. My mom was called in for a conference. It seems their solution was to move me up to ninth grade and just skip grades six, seven, and eight. My mom refused to allow it and worked out a compromise where I would be given extra homework at an advanced level and assigned to tutor the kids in the class who needed extra help. I was really scared when she got home just knowing I was in for it. But to my surprise we just talked for three or four hours and she explained to me that God had given me a gift and it would be wrong of me to waste it. (She actually mentioned God.) She made me promise to accept the extra responsibility as an aspect of maturity. That whole discussion sticks clearly in my mind, partly because I DID NOT get the whipping that I was sure I was going to get.
My school would be considered substandard for the most part and they do all the sex education and stuff that you hear about. Although they did not promote homosexual behavior or sex outside of marriage, they didn't say it was wrong either. I never got less than an A in my classes, I was valedictorian of my graduating class and I have a full academic scholarship to college. All because of my mom.
Okay, she was only fifteen when I was born and she didn't get married until last summer. But she taught me what a relationship between a man and a woman should be about and what marriage should be about. I was sixteen when we married, but my husband was my first. He is the head of our family and its leader. As far as I am concerned, that is the way it should be. Who taught me all this? My mother, all by herself, no help from schools or churches.
Okay I went on and on again.
My husband will verify that I talk almost constantly, except when we're hunting.
May The Sheep Be With You
disobedient children or disobedient parents
