Silencing the landslide of cultural messages

Sally Clarkson is the author of the book 'Educating the Wholehearted Child' among many others.
I visited her blog this morning and found an excellent article about imagination in children & reasons for play. No surprise television is a part of the discussion. (Again, I'm carefully limiting my book purchases this year, but this one is on the way.)


About twice a year, I take the tv out of the room. I clear it out, I fantasize about smashing. I say it outloud. I read books like 'Bringing up Boy's' who advocate it, knowing what little there is good on it. But I find this last for a while, even months, before we find it's illumination filling our time.

And a quick by the way, I appreciate comments that mention parenting from a position of authority in early childhood, and more from a position of influence, from Amy @ Homestead Revival. And Thy Hand's comments about the perpetual revolving door.

I mentioned in this post, that Dobson's book, Bringing Up Boys, mentions the landslide of influence on our family's and children. In Chapter 14, titled Predators, an article is included written by Ellen Goodman, a secular writer for the Boston Globe/Washington Post, copywrited in 2000. It describes why parents who are often perceived as overly concerned about media or influences in the community shouldn't back down.

..." Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, a researach associate at the Institute for
American values, found this out in interviews with middle-class parents. " A common complaint I heard from parents was their sense of being overwhelmed by the culture. they felt relatively more helpless than their parents."

' "Parents," she notes, "see themselves in a struggle for the hearts and
minds of their own children." It isn't that they can't say no. It's that
there's so much more to say no to." '

"Without wallowing in false nostalgia, there has been a fundamental shift.
Americans once expected parents to raise their children in accordance with the dominant cultural messages. Today they are expected to raise their children in opposition."



Dobson goes on to write 'It's why parents feel more isolated.'


Ouch. Isn't that the truth. It automatically puts you at odds, when you step out of the mainstream, so not to be swept away. And being at odds or doing 'it'(life) differently can be a little lonely sometimes. Whether it's food, clothes, entertainment, worship...





But it's in those lonely times, the quiet, silent times, that meditation, not the emptying of the mind in a zen like experience, but the quietness that allows the filling of the mind with the Creator's original hope: to hear Him. Ann describes at A Holy Experience, how we live more reactively when we are constantly in the presence of noise. When you are accustomed to noise, & your children are accustomed to noise, it can be a tough transition. But one well worth it. It's where real strength to fight the current is found. Yes, reading all the books that support the family & wholesomeness are great learning tools, but in grounding our walk with Him is where we find the fortitude & reason to go to all the effort. Grounding ourselves so that when we suffer loneliness or weakness, we'll perservere, and continue to build character which leads to something hoped for that doesn't disappoint.





Romans 5:3-6





verse 6, '... when we were powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.'





Thanks be to God for silent moments. And a Hope that doesn't disappoint.





Visit A Holy Experience for more thoughts on the spiritual practice of silence.
This is an excellent link to visit. Those who contribute also have much to offer. Every Wednesday there are those who gather to share their thoughts helping them grow closer to God.