we ask our young kids to do and participate in lots of things they don’t understand at the time … everything from sitting through a baseball game to waving palm branches on Palm Sunday… it may or may not be fun for them, they may “get it” a little bit, but full understanding about what it’s all about doesn’t come until much later in life…
I can think of some good things about kids holding signs with their parents, whether or not they understand what the signs say. Things like: my parents have strong convictions about this…. my parents are willing to stand up for what they believe, even if others disagree with them or even mock them…. our country gives us the freedom to express these beliefs in public…. I am a valuable part of my family… even though I am young, my voice counts, I can make a difference in the world… Again, these things may not be totally understood at the time, but they are assimilated over the years…

OK, I’m done now… enough said.

Love ya, Shan

I think it’s interesting that mine and Brad’s discussions on using children to express a parent’s opinion has inevitably also become a discussion on abortion and choice. Because it’s such a polarizing issue, I guess it’s irresitable.

Regarding the children holding signs… I can agree with Scott and say I see where the parents are coming from. But that doesn’t make it right. What I said to Brad earlier is that what if I saw this demonstration and wanted more information, so I pulled over? If I asked an adult, they could tell me why they’re there, what they believe, what the demonstration is all about. If I asked their five-year old child, all he or she could do is regurgitate some words their parents have fed them. Obviously kids will learn and usually adopt their parents beliefs; I hope my kids learn mine! But there’s a difference between teaching them values and dragging them to the streets to hold a sign that displays your own opinions on such a dividing issue. In this case, the children, I believe, were more or less being used as simply an extra body in a large demonstration.

And regarding abortion, let’s be clear that the opposite of pro-choice is not pro-life: it’s anti-choice. I don’t like abortion any more than those demonstraters, or any more than Adam above. I will always encourage other women to choose other options, and I will never choose an abortion for myself. But after just as much reflection, research, and contemplation, I cannot be convinced that that choice should be taken away from me. That the government should choose for me. And I’m so grateful that my boyfriend loves and respects me and all women enough to agree with my (our) right to choose.

The pros and cons and evils and choices concerning abortion are all a different subject for another day, but this is completely different.

I am all for teaching your children right from wrong. But let them decide when they are ready when it comes to something like this. Leave them at home and explain to them what you are doing, and then someday, if they feel the same as you after having a little more life experience under their belt, they can join you or do their own thing.

Forcing an opinion on someone isn’t teaching them right from wrong, it’s telling them.