Kool-Aid Culture
I spend a lot of time wondering how to be a good mom in a “big picture” sense. Sure, enforcement of proper hand-washing is a must. Refereeing tug-of-wars over toys is a daily – sometimes hourly -- chore. I can handle this stuff (if I’ve had my coffee). But what I really fret about is how best to shape the path my three children will walk over the next decade.
How can I be involved in their school curricula and community without being the mom who causes eyes to roll at the PTA meeting? How can I inspect homework and ask about school in a way that doesn’t cause my kids to clam up? How do I balance that “let ’em figure it out” feeling with the one that says, “If you don’t butt in, they’re going to be chanting Lil Wayne lyrics during Mass”?
Fortuitously, Marybeth Hicks arrived on the Ricochet scene last year. It was as if someone had heard the call of my confused maternal soul and sent me a mentor, albeit a virtual one. Since then, we’ve exchanged a few e-mails and enjoy mutual followship on Twitter. I’ve signed up for Family Events, an e-newsletter about parenting in which Marybeth shares an anecdote about her family and then opens a question up to the readership. I enjoy the light touch she brings to serious issues. She’s been there; I trust her. I admire that she’s a mother of four, funny, a serious Catholic, accomplished (she worked in the Reagan White House), hip without being a hippie, and totally at peace with herself. Perhaps you saw her on Hannity a couple of weeks ago discussing the news of the day with a few other folks. I’ve never been on one of those types of panels, but I imagine it’s pretty hard not to a) constantly interrupt everyone else or b) get steamrolled. A tough balance, but Marybeth’s a pro.
And, she’s written a new book. Don’t Let the Kids Drink the Kool-Aid: Confronting the Left’s Assault on Our Families, Faith, and Freedom is, in Hicks’s own words, a political book with a “message that needs to get out.” Some people, she told me, find it scary. But I’m already scared. Scared that the public education system will turn my kids into Big Liberal Robots. The Three R’s used to be reading, ’riting, and ’rithmetic. Now it’s more like redistribution, renewable energy, and rewriting history.
With school starting this week in my neck of the woods, I wondered if she’d answer a few questions for me about parenting. She was willing to let me share it with you, lucky Ricochet readers. I hope you find her as wise as I do. And please, if you have children, or if you care about the country’s future, order her book.
Ursula: I often feel that I should either home-school or send my kids to private/Catholic school. What can a financially struggling family with no real means to escape the public school system do to firmly but politely push back against the liberal agenda that you describe in the book?
Marybeth: The issues of leftism that are facing families with young kids aren’t entirely restricted to public schools, since all teachers are trained in schools of education, where some of the biggest radicals in the academy hang their hats. But of course, public schools in particular are so left-leaning in curriculum and policy and millions of families rely on them. Don’t Let the Kids Drink the Kool-Aid exposes several areas where parents need to be vigilant — comprehensive sexuality education, eco-radicalism as science curriculum, multi-culti propaganda instead of history or social studies, and topics that aren’t taught, like civics and economics — all areas where the left makes serious inroads into the beliefs and ideas of our kids. Push back by being very engaged! You have to go over materials used by your teachers and offer balance, whether it’s providing information about an alternative point of view or just having lively conversations around your dinner table. What we can’t do is just drop our kids at the school house door and assume the best.
U: Have your kids ever gone off on a liberal streak about something, forcing you to have to point out to them exactly how they are being "brainwashed"?
MB: The eco-radical science lessons throughout middle school quite frankly became annoying! My son had to sit through Al Gore’s miserable film even after it had been discredited, and my daughter had to watch a National Geographic documentary called “Human Footprint” (which should have been called “The Big Bad Evil Anti-American Anti-Capitalist Footprint” because that was its purpose.) And it was sold as science! Suffice to say I researched the film and found the teaching materials online and was able to refute the political messages in it in conversations with my daughter. But most parents won’t go to the trouble or don’t even know their kids are being subjected to this stuff. And of course, what they learn in school is reinforced in all of their media content, so the molding of their opinions is almost inevitable.
U: How important, if at all, is it to have other parents in your community circle that are as firm and principled as you are in terms of helping to guide your kids?
MB: It’s very important, but the issues in Don’t Let the Kids Drink the Kool-Aid extend way beyond parents to grandparents, concerned citizens and anyone who cares about our nation’s future. This isn’t a parenting book at all, but a political book with a message about our future. My goal is to expose how pervasive the left’s reach really is with our young generation and to inspire folks to pay closer attention. If we don’t, I think we’re looking at the first generation of American socialists and images such as the recent London riots will be happening here, too.
U: What's the secret to raising kids who not only won't drink the Kool-Aid but will recognize it as Kool-Aid when they're offered it?
MB: In the book, I encourage everyone to respond personally, publicly and politically and to recommit ourselves to raising a virtuous generation. We have to work harder to instill what are commonly considered “American” values into this generation of young people. We’re already seeing some serious ramifications of leftist indoctrination in the character of our nation’s kids — hypersexuality, moral relevancy, a lack of faith, a troubling narcissism and dependency, bullying, immaturity — I could go on! But my goal isn’t to complain about young people; it’s to promote a greater sense of responsibility for the future of our country by connecting the dots that paint a troubling picture of our children’s generation.
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Comments :
Nov '10
Re: Kool-Aid Culture
As an aside, sure do miss those MLB posts...
Mar '11
Re: Kool-Aid Culture
Thanks for the review - I just ordered the book!
Apr '11
Re: Kool-Aid Culture
Second that!
Re: Kool-Aid Culture
Wow! Thanks everyone for the warm welcome back and, as always, an enlightening discussion of parenting/education. I always get a new perspective from you folks. Thanks also for ordering Marybeth's book. I'm glad you all agree she's embarking on an important mission.
And, ladies, I'd love nothing more than to a) watch a baseball game and b) write about it here. But it's been a long, busy summer of early, early rising and early bedtimes (not much past the start of games, frankly), and I'm trying to use whatever miniscule amount of energy I have left to train for the Army 10-Miler in October. I'm 40 in less than a week, so 'dem bones (and muscles) are old and weary. Anyway, thanks again for the kind words!