3 Destructive Lessons Your Child May Not Escape in Today’s Public Schools
“Don’t get in a car or take candy from strangers.”
When our kids were little (for some of us, years ago), we used to warn them, hoping to put simple safeguards in place. We did our best to address the typical lures of pedophiles and predators we’d heard about as young moms.
Were those actually the good old days?
Culture has taken a sinister turn. Now, some of the greatest dangers for our kids are found in our schools.
First, a disclaimer: We know many solid, integrity-filled, and morally positive influences exist within our school system – patriotic teachers and administrators dedicated to the good of our children’s education and future. This is not about you.
Unfortunately, there are also some lurking among them who are up to no good. They represent a growing cancer in America’s schools. They energetically foist malignant lessons about gender ideology, CRT (the new racism), and the apocalyptic visions of climate change theory. Your child may get a steady diet of this unhealthy sludge in many public schools that have embraced woke theology over quality education.
These grew unnoticed by many of us for a long time; however, they’ve been steadily eating away at the quality of our educational system, leaving our nation’s children less healthy at best – and debilitated or suicidal, at the other end of that spectrum. These “educators” mask the harm by blaming parents for the mental health decline of this generation; however, the attack is clearly coming from the ideologies they cling to, as these bad actors attempt to shove them down our unsuspecting students’ throats.
At its heart, it is dishonest.
These individuals connive in classrooms, administration, school boards, and within our government and have shifted the priority away from education toward a goal-oriented indoctrination. Critical thinking, American values, free speech, and plain old common sense are squashed by the need for a dictated tunnel-visioned view of each issue.
You may think your school is immune. We hope that it is. But you should know that if your school has steered clear of this national push towards thought, speech, and moral control, yours would be the exception to what is rapidly becoming the rule. Many educators are moving in lockstep to a leftist drumbeat that neglects reading, writing, and arithmetic in favor of controlling your child’s “social” learning, their point of view, sexuality, beliefs, and moral dogma. Things that clearly shouldn’t even enter the public school realm are now central.
Here are three destructive lessons your child may not escape in today’s public schools. Sadly, there are more. We won’t touch on climate anxiety that has kids suicidal and others steering clear of concepts like marriage and children because of its doomsday predictions. Then there’s the devastating effects of CRT, which we’ve shared about in previous blogs. This time, we want to shine a light on three others. Be on the lookout, mamas, for these in your child’s education.
Lesson #1: You’re Not Okay
As if they needed one more thing to breed insecurity during the tween years.
It’s a time when children’s bodies, minds, and emotions go through significant changes. They may become moody or more argumentative. The awkward in-between. It’s normal, and most of us remember those confusing, discouraging (sometimes), and occasionally painful days. Thankfully, those who loved us (often parents) assured us that we were good and loved and that we would make it through the storms of adolescence. And – we did.
What happens, though, if your child has a teacher or a school counselor who takes it upon themselves to tell you that if you are uncomfortable at all with yourself during those formative years, you were probably born in the wrong body?
Then, if that trusted professional tells your child the reason they feel uneasy is because they are likely transgender, suddenly, it may all make sense to a young, impressionable mind. Then your daughter succumbs to the pressure, hoping for acceptance, to please the teacher or counselor, and to finally feel better. The problem is that it’s rarely a solution and is more of an abusive technique than a cure. In fact, often, the underlying depression or anxiety is left untreated except by pushing gender therapy as the sole remedy.
This happened to a 13-year-old girl in Maine when her school counselor pushed her toward a gender switch. When her mom, Amber Lavigne, discovered chest binders in her daughter’s bedroom, she then learned that the school official had secretly provided the gender gear to begin the process – without Amber’s knowledge. This mom of three was understandably outraged. She shares her story, and about the lawsuit filed on her behalf on this week’s podcast.
Schools are teaching children that they are not okay. Before you think that would never happen in your school – know that we’ve heard an alarming number of similar accounts and could fill a blog simply listing the ones reported in the media. Mamas, we must pay close attention to our children and the influences – even teachers and counselors – who speak into their lives.
Lesson #2: You Can’t Trust Your Parents
Part of the agenda now is for institutional education, healthcare, and government to come between children and their parents. In Amber’s daughter’s case, the counselor clearly instructed her to keep her gender transition from her parents.
To a struggling child, this is a trusted authority who seems to care – and they genuinely appear to want to help. That’s how grooming works. You separate the child from their support system, which makes it easier to manipulate the situation.
Along that path, they convince the student with messages like: “You can’t trust your parents. It’s not that your mom and dad are necessarily evil; they just don’t understand you. Their outdated traditional upbringing prevents them from being able to help you like we can. They don’t understand what you’re feeling. Trust me, they’ll come around eventually, but in the meantime, we can help you feel better about yourself now.”
Similarly, in the case of Amber’s daughter, the counselor used their “professional” authority to convince her daughter that she could no longer trust her parents. She was instructed to refrain from sharing with them even as she began using a boy’s name, sanctioned by the school.
At first, the student might feel a sense of relief in that moment of “acceptance,” but quite often, it leaves them feeling even more lost, confused, and alone in the long run. Let’s face it: these teachers and administrators do not love your child. They use them to reach an end focused on ideology, not care, science, or what is best for your child.
If someone like this counselor wandered the neighborhood and took an interest in our child’s sexuality, we’d call them a predator. Stunningly, schools have begun to unapologetically usurp parental authority in the most personal matters. The exploding number of de-transitioners who regret their youthful impulses, which in many cases were influenced by non-family adults around them. Now, they face the reality that their bodies and minds have been impacted forever, which we believe is the result of those who attempt to replace mental healthcare with gender care – and push kids farther away from the love and support of their parents.
Lesson #3: Lying is Good
What great pains we as parents go to teach our young that “honesty is the best policy.” That quote goes back to one of our founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin. Instilling the idea of truthfulness is at the core of helping them grow into responsible, trustworthy adults. Yet, schools are teaching another lesson to our impressionable kiddos.
Lying is good.
It’s okay to lie if it’s about gender. It’s okay to lie to your parents. Trusted teachers are being ordered to outright lie and mislead their students’ moms and dads when it comes to gender concerns. The school can provide healthcare, prescription medication, and more in Washington State without parents’ knowledge,1 and they are not alone in this radical move. As various states, in differing degrees, infringe on the parent’s rights to manage their child’s upbringing, education, and healthcare, they seem bent on keeping parents in the dark.
President Obama was instrumental in pressuring schools to implement “gender support plans,” with promised retribution if they refused, in his “Dear Colleague Letter on Transgender Students.”2 Since then, the train has picked up considerable steam, with moral, mental health and family preeminence cast aside.
Years ago, I managed a youth center in a large athletic club, and one of our hang-out rooms had an age limit of 8-12. One day, when a five-year-old tried to enter, I asked her age, as it was evident that she was too young to be with these “tween-agers.” Proudly, she said, “Mom said today I can be 8.” She was blissfully unaware that her mom was teaching her to lie, but it made me wonder what kind of untruths she’d tell her parents a few years later when she became a teen. After all, mom seems okay with lying, right?
What do we expect will come from our schools’ celebration of dishonesty?
Do we envision a generation that will not feel free to lie to employers, spouses, and friends? Do we think they will refuse to consider cheating in other parts of life, like tax returns, job applications, or other opportunities where it seems easier to cut corners?
When schools teach kids that lying is good – there’s no telling what we’ll see in the future.
The bottom line is this: Teaching that you can’t trust your family, lying is fine, and you are not okay – is discouraging and would be hard for any of us to swallow – let alone a child fed a steady diet of it. It’s no wonder that kids feel helpless, alone, and sometimes hopeless.
What can you do?
Here are a few quick ideas to consider.
- Change your schooling plan.
Many educational options are available, and while you may not feel ready to homeschool, protecting your kids is paramount. There is no price too high for their well-being and future.
- Hold your family close with open, frequent, and relaxed conversation.
Stay close to your kids. Do things together. Put away your cell phone and really listen. Spend time, both quality and quantity, as a family. As much as you can, make your home a safe, peaceful, and joyful place. Know your kids’ friends and host the movie night at your house.
- Don’t let warning signs slip by.
If you see anxiety brewing or a depressed state that seems to be manifesting in your son or daughter’s demeanor, act. Don’t trust the school counselor with your child’s mental health. Seek a professional, preferably a Christian counselor or psychiatrist.
- Keep all topics on the table.
While maintaining age appropriateness, be open to discussing any topic they come up with. Even if it is uncomfortable, be honest and willing to tackle conversations about gender, race, climate, pornography, war, and the future. Be sure to brush up on things to familiarize yourself with them, and don’t get on a soap box. Listen, stay positive, and be compassionate. Knowing you won’t freak out will make them feel safer talking with you.
- Teach.
If your child’s classroom is rewriting our nation’s history (with the help of CRT or other imaginative curriculums), set the record straight. Travel to historic sites, watch movies about American history, and talk about the miracles and extraordinary events that have made the USA, unlike any other country the world has ever seen. We have your back with tools and resources to help.
- Don’t be afraid to rock the boat.
If a school representative steps into your realm as a parent, or you discover they are encouraging your child to embrace harmful ideologies – or lie, speak up. Tell administrators, the district, fellow parents, and even the media. Rock the boat, mamas.
- Pray like their lives depend on it.
Because it does. God cares about your children even more than you do. He is ready to help you parent because He is the perfect parent. Learn from and trust in the best.
You are more than able to stand between your children and a culture that is targeting them. Don’t give in to fear, parent with intentionality and hope.
Your children only have one mom. You are their champion, their cheerleader, and their loving parent. Today’s toxic culture may require more heroics on your part, but you can do it, and they are worth it.
1 youtube.com – Daily Wire
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