We talk about indoctrination and children’s. Please. I have been so shocked about how many charge books are religious. Let me make things clear before we jump into this conversation. 1, I am not anti religious, anti god, anti Jesus, any of that. I just feel really strongly that my kids, for myself and my family only, I feel really strongly to my kids shouldn’t be exposed to things like that at such a young age. I want them to learn critical thinking skills, how to use their own discernment, how to listen to their inner voice before for an organization comes in or a way of teaching comes in and tells them how to think, act, fail or interact with the world around them. I want them to figure that on their own first, a little bit. And the second thing I really wanna make clear is I do not have a problem with religious children’s book. My problem specifically comes from the sneakiness. So let’s get into this conversation.
I go to the library at least once a week with myself. When we go, I let him pick out seven to 10 books. I know that’s a lot, but we’ve read them all. There is nothing more on this earth that my son loves than to sit down and read 20,30 books and in a sitting. And he literally will sit there, turn every page, look at every page, and he loves it. He is a reader. And I love that about him. I really do. But when we’re at the library and he’s grabbing books left and right, picking things off of shelves, you know, seeing what interest him that week. I don’t have time as mom chasing around a 16 month old, also being 24 weeks pregnant, to like sit down and look through each page of every single book. So they go in a bag, we check them out. We got home. Then it’s time to read the books. Super excited. We sit down on the couch. He comes, he calls my lap. He’s ready to read. He wants to read every single book and every single page. He does not let me skip pages. So he’s sitting in my lap.
The first time this happened, I’m reading the book and we’re about halfway through. It’s a book talking about emotions and how to handle big emotions. And I’m like, perfect, this is exactly what we need. He is a toddler. He needs to learn how to handle his motions. I need to learn how to help him regulate these big emotions.
So this is a book both of us we’re reading. It has a cute little bunny rabbit talking about how he likes to sit in a quiet space and blah, blah, blah, or three pages into this 10 page book and he’s the, I turn the page and there’s like, if you sitting in a quiet space is not calm you down. Have you considered reading scripture? All of a sudden there’s scriptures quoted in this book and then it’s like you can always turn to God and pray. My kid doesn’t know what deep reading is. What makes you think that he can say a prayer to God? I was like, well, we’re not reading that book. It’s not for us. We’ll return it and get a new book next week.
The next week, same thing happens. We get a bunch of books. We come home again, another book. It through the entire book. This time, this one is on potty training. We get to the very last page and there said a quote, this is anything with God. Anything thing is possible, has nothing to do with my party. So I’m potty training nothing. Okay, weird. We’ll just skip that page. But happens again and again and again. And I just don’t understand because like if you’re proud and have a strong testimony about your religious beliefs, why are you being sneaky about it? Why are you trying to hide it in the books? Why are you like shout it loud from the rooftops? I don’t know. Just don’t be sneaky about it because there are times when I’m not able to sit down and weigh my kid 20 books. So do I. He looks the pictures himself. And yes, he cannot read at this point in time. But he, he, he gets, he understands. He’s not an . I think we don’t give kids enough credit for what they can and can’t understand or what they interpret or don’t corporate. And like I said, I don’t have a problem with these books being there. But like, is there a way that they can like label them in the library as they have religious or spiritual teachings or connotations in them? Or is there something like that we can do? So that way, like, hey, it’s just little heads up. There’s a little green sticker that means it talks about god in this book.
I want to be abundantly clear one more time. I have no problem with the teachings of, religious teachings or Christian teachings or, I mean, really any teachings of that matter, spiritual teachings are all at all. And I know growing my son, raising him, he is going to be exposed to this stuff, especially in the state that I live in. My problem is strictly with people trying to sneak it into his learning, his development, without my say so. Just like if I sent my son to school and they have the 10 Commandments listed, yeah, I’d be pretty piss because that is not their place to teach my son. That is my place and I am a full hearted believer that people are, can be good people without religion. They don’t need god to tell them to be good. They don’t need a threat from above to tell them that if you aren’t good, you won’t be going to heaven. And that’s why you should be good, because I believe people should be good just because they want. I don’t know, has anyone else experienced this or is it just my local library and I need to just and find a new library? Don’t try to indoctrinate my future dot. Okay, I grew up. I have a religious trauma. Probably like half the people in this universe do. I’m not asking for you not to talk about God. I’m not asking you to hint, like hide your beliefs. Like please do what you want for what’s best for you, but don’t force it on my kids in a way that I cannot control the conversation. I will have a relation of. I will have a conversation with my children when they are old enough to understand and discern and make choices for themself. Because I will not stand by and let my kids make a binding contract decision at 8 years old cuz they’re not old enough at that point. They’re not old enough and they deserve better.