Football season is upon us, and chances are that you, or someone you know, is geared up for the season. Whether it’s to watch college game day or the NFL, fans have begun to pull out their neatly laundered jerseys, check their ESPN apps for game times, and gather friends to cheer on their teams. At FMS, as much as we love football, we want to encourage you to be even bigger fans of your children.
Parents are waking up in the fourth quarter and are shocked to find just how much the game has changed. Through our public education systems, organizations like Planned Parenthood, and ubiquitous media outlets, our children are being indoctrinated to believe that children are sexual from birth and therefore have sexual rights, children can be born into the wrong body and need to figure out their gender identity, and if anyone will not affirm a child’s choices, then they do not deserve to be a part of their life. These harmful ideologies are sexualizing our children, causing harmful gender confusion, and ripping apart families. Parents are left asking, “How did this happen?” and “What can I do about it?”
At the Center for Childhood Innocence, our goal is to protect children and to help families thrive in such chaotic times. Today, we want to share with you a couple of strategies for preventing this scenario from becoming too familiar in your home. First, be your child’s biggest fan because if you won’t, someone else will. Activists promoting gender confusion are actively preying on children by taking the role of “cheerleader” and encouraging children to doubt or distrust their parents. They offer to be a child’s “glitter family” as a way to replace parents that are “unaffirming.” In a recent webinar, we interviewed Dr. Erin Brewer about the practical ways parents can develop healthy relationships with their children that safeguard against these attacks. We encourage you to watch that interview and begin implementing her suggestions.
Second, do not assume others respect your authority as a parent. Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong, and Alfred Kinsey knew that children are the mechanism for changing the future. For that very reason, loving parents are often viewed, even today, as the barrier to political and social reform. For example, Monica Cline, former Planned Parenthood educator, explains how Planned Parenthood sees parents as an obstruction to providing children with abortions, condoms, and other services. Many health curriculums encourage children to be sexually autonomous by teaching them how to access services without their parents’ knowledge or permission. We encourage you to be on guard against those who would use your children to promote their agendas.
In summary, “show up.” A recent study, done by the Barna Group, showed that kids and young adults in Gen Z are eager for real interactions with older generations, including their parents, but they think their parents are too busy. Many parents have outsourced their child’s education to schools and their child’s faith to churches. As we gear up to cheer on our favorite teams this fall, we urge you redirect some of that fan energy to your kids. Start coaching the MVPs in your life—because if you aren’t, someone else is.
“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6