The unwritten pages! Well! "arnt there so many of them". What we do with our minds, will reflect on our children, SO! Why are you still learning what has already been thought about? You can have all the PHD,S in the world, but the raw thoughts, is what Iam interested in.
A time ago, all the people thought the world was flat, until one being found the facts and put its self right on the front line. And yes, they all laughed at him. GOOD! We need more ignorants in this world today.

Palimpsest,

I agree wholeheartedly with what you have said here, but it has left me extremely puzzled.

You yourself said "The hardest part of parenting for me is keeping quiet and allow them to make their own decisions and consequently, often enough their own mistakes, without assuming for myself their right to decide their own lives." and yet on another thread you condemned a teacher for expressing these same sentiments.

I am neither sniping nor stalking here, but am genuinely curious as to why, when you admit how hard it is to resist the temptation to engrave on your own kids' tabula rasa, you should be so very harsh on someone else who shares this viewpoint?

I never really appreciated these lyrics for many years but...

You Have To Be Carefully Taught

"You've got to be taught
To hate and fear
You've got to be taught
From year to year
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!."

-Oscar Hammerstein, 1949 "South Pacific"

Dear Wobbles,

Thanks for reminding us ... Oscar Hammerstein, 1949, South Pacific.

The words are really an insight - into how little progress the world has made in the humanity stakes!

You have to be taught indeed - sad but true!

Belly, agreed that "Good parenting never came out of a book" - however science does have a lot to teach us about methods of child-raising that are known to be effective and/or damaging. Parental instincts are often flawed, being poorly adapted to 21st century realities.

I personally believe that there should be much much stronger compulsory education for parents - we already have ante-natal classes that help parents deal with the first 6-9 months: why not the next 18 years?

Of course atheists believe the only thing children should be taught is "There is no God". According to them the world's problems are all caused by faith in God, and it is child abuse to teach about God.