Are You a Parent or Are You Politically Correct?

Kathy Foust

These days it seems as if we are supposed to not only accept every choice that other people make, but embrace it and indicate to our children that it's the right choice. If that's the case, then we can't really call ourselves parents. Aren't we supposed to guide our children using the morals we wish them to embrace as their own? Tolerance is one thing. An "anything goes" attitude is something else entirely.

Do unto others. Yes, we want our children to learn to treat people well. We want them to be tolerant of people and yet we also want them to be assertive enough to stand up for what's right. How are they supposed to know the difference if their own parents are more worried about being politically correct than they are about personal morals?

Respect other religions. Your child doesn't have to be religious to respect others' rights to their own religion. You don't even have to teach them that the religion has ideals you would stand by. It's the right to choose a religion that you need to promote, not the religion itself.

Develop gender concepts. Yes, this is a day of equal rights. It's also apparently a day when parents leave children free to decide their own gender. Great call. They don't have enough to learn and decide about already? It's a parent's job to guide the ideals of their children based on their own morals. You don't have the right to put the kind of pressure on a child that a complete lack of gender guidance demands. Teach them the gender roles that you accept as your own. They have their entire adult lives to make personal choices based on their own experiences.

You're not really creating the details of a personality. What you're doing is providing tools and showing your child how to use those tools so they are capable of making decisions. Tolerance is a great thing, but embracing an idea because a society has all of a sudden decided that you should is morally irresponsible. If you make decisions based on being politically correct instead of being based on your own morals, you're not being socially responsible. You're being a neglectful parent. Consider all the things that were once socially acceptable and ask yourself if you would raise your child based on those things, like the acceptance of slavery.

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References: Personal Experience

Published by Kathy Foust - Featured Contributor in Lifestyle

Kathy is a professional freelance writer, student and mother. Her goal is to provide useful information that's easy to understand and that may even be entertaining!  View profile

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