Parental Involvement

Parents have the opportunity to pass down the teachings of Scripture to their children and even their grandchildren, speaking - and living - the truth of God. Psalm 78 reminds us:

2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old,
3 Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children, Telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.
5 For He established a testimony in Jacob, And appointed a law in Israel, Which He commanded our fathers, That they should make them known to their children;
6 That the generation to come might know them, The children who would be born, That they may arise and declare them to their children...

This passage speaks of these words that have been "heard and known."  This can remind us of the passage in James 1, where we find the admonition to be doers of the Word and not hearers only.  Certainly we must "hear" the Word, in other words, to be exposed to the teachings of the Bible - but we must go further.  The Word must become a part of us.  We must know it, so that we can ultimately do it.  And, we can pass on that teaching to the next generation or generations through word and deed.

+++++

In Deuteronomy 6, we can read about the dynamics of the parent-child relationship, showing us how truth is transmitted to the next generation; we see these words:
6 "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.
7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Parents have the responsibility before God to raise their children - to have the ultimate authority over their lives as they grow toward adulthood.  Christian parents are charged and equipped to teach their kids the ways of the Lord.

But, these days, it seems there are competitors for that parental role as some overzealous institutions and authorities believe they know better than parents how to raise children.

There's a disturbing story out of Chicago that Faithwire reported on recently.  It states:

Since 2019, Jeannette Cooper’s then-12-year-old daughter Sophia has identified as a transgender male — a decision she announced when she arrived at her father’s house, unbeknownst to her mother.

Sophia’s father soon thereafter alleged during a court hearing his young daughter was “no longer mentally or emotionally safe” while in her mother’s custody. Prior to that, Cooper had custody of their daughter six days and seven nights a week, according to the Independent Women’s Forum.

The story relates that the mother and father went through a psychological evaluation process and, "...those evaluating Cooper determined she needed to work on her understanding of Sophia’s gender dysphoria and her decision to change her sexual identity."  Faithwire reports that "Cooper has, since then, been virtually removed from her daughter’s life altogether."  The weight of the battle with Sophia's father, Cooper's ex-husband, caused her to agree to allow him to have custody, and communication between mother and daughter is through e-mail only.  The article notes:

Although Cooper is no longer permitted to have any say in Sophia’s educational or medical decisions, she did successfully reach an agreement in the court stating her teenage child would not be allowed to medically or surgically transition her sexual identity without her parental consent.

In this case, the outcome of a court procedure resulted in a mother losing touch with her daughter, essentially stripped of her authority.  The Daily Signal reports that:

In Pennsylvania recently, three parents filed a federal lawsuit alleging that their children’s first grade teacher violated their rights, not to mention school policy and state law, by teaching their children about “gender dysphoria and transgender transitioning.”

In this case, “transgender transitioning,” while not physically possible, refers to using drugs or surgery to make the body appear as the opposite sex from which a person was born.

The three mothers alleged that a teacher "failed to honor their parental rights with her 'direct classroom instruction' on gender dysphoria and that the district didn’t list 'gender dysphoria and transgender transitioning' as part of the curriculum online, violating its own policy."

The story also mentioned a California mother who "filed a similar lawsuit in Monterey County because in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers at her sixth grade daughter’s school recruited the middle schooler to join an 'Equality Club' where she was told she may be transgender and bisexual—two things she knew nothing about before this club."  The Daily Signal article goes on to say:

Teachers and school administrators encouraged Jessica Konen’s daughter to change her name to a boy’s name and then “specifically instructed her not to tell her mother about her new identity because her mother couldn’t be ‘trusted.’” Together, school staff convinced the middle school-aged girl she was bisexual and later, transgender.

Fortunately, according to the article, "Konen’s daughter, now released from the influence of school staff, no longer agrees she is bisexual or transgender."

The writer of the Daily Signal article, Nicole Russell, says: 

The right of parents to maintain authority over their children while at school is a constitutional one that’s also protected by state and federal law. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that the “liberty” protected by the due process clause includes the right of parents “to control the education of their [children]” and that the “liberty of parents and guardians” includes the right “to direct the upbringing and education of children under their control.”

She also states that, "...parents should continue to fight back against school systems that undermine their rights using shrouds of secrecy in an attempt to substitute the schools’ judgment for the judgment of those who truly have the best interest of their children at heart."

Alliance Defending Freedom, on its website, relates information about another case:

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing a group of parents and teachers are suing the Harrisonburg City Public School Board for usurping parents’ right to direct the upbringing of their children and forcing school staff to violate their religious beliefs by affirming the board’s view on gender identity. Upon a child’s request, school district policy requires staff to immediately begin using opposite-sex pronouns and forbids staff from sharing information with parents about their child’s request, instead instructing staff to mislead and deceive parents.

ADF Senior Counsel Ryan Bangert said: “Teachers and staff cannot willfully hide kids’ mental health information from their parents, especially as some of the decisions children are making at school have potentially life-altering ramifications. As the clients we represent believe, a teacher’s role is to support, not supplant, the role of the parent.”

This information can reinforce the concept in our own minds regarding our God-given responsibility as a parent.  That role, Biblically speaking, is given to the parent - now we may decide to contract that out to the school or to the Sunday school or sports coaches.  But, ultimately, parents are charged with directing the education of their children before God.

It is so important to pray for our schools, which is being done in places across the Faith Radio broadcast area.  As the school year begins, be reminded to pray for your students, his or her teachers, and school leadership.  Parents should be very informed and involved regarding what is going on at school, if you choose the option of sending a child to a public or private school.  You can resolve to keep communication open.

Because there are harmful agendas at play.  There are forces in education that seem to supersede the role of the parents and the values that Christian kids have been taught. Like parents across our nation who are railing at the furtherance of the LGBTQ agenda or Marxist elements of critical theory, be aware of elements of this harmful agenda that are at play.