The weekly “little of this, little of that” feature here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!
(This will all look and work better if you click on the actual post and do not remain on the main page.)
I'm stash-busting and apparently my stash consists of very colorful sock yarn!
Today I am highlighting one of the bits and pieces because I think it sheds a light on something I am always trying to say here, that you can and should protect your children from what we call, using a shorthand that has Biblical echoes, “the world.” By this I mean not the all-good creation that God has given us, but the side of life that increasingly threatens even the innocence of a child — and sometimes his life.
I get criticized because I say that it can be done — not perfectly, but with God's grace, well enough. And that it should be done — that we should try! Maybe there was a time, when there were simply more children, that society as a whole did a pretty good job of giving them their chance to grow according to their development, without burdening them with adult problems and evils. No more. So it's entirely up to us — help is not on the way.
“We lived a miracle, where grown-ups preserved our childhood.”
One of our readers, dear Helen, told me about this podcast episode, “Cookies and Monsters.”
It is like a “Life is Beautiful” story but for real, told by a man who discovers just how serious the determination to live out their motto, “be cheerful and sing,” was for some girl scouts who ended up in a Japanese concentration camp in WWII. It's a story of how simple standards and the knowledge that “God is nigh” saved them.
But as you listen, I hope you will not consider their spirit a quaint relic of the past. Consider what these teachers, women also under a duress the extremity of which they were keenly aware, gave their girls.
Today, while not the time of Japan-occupied China, we live in what is becoming a spiritual concentration camp of sorts, where, true, children aren't forced to keep warm by means of laboriously collected coal shavings, hauled bucket by bucket from behind the guard house. If anything, our children are so comfortable and warm that we can congratulate ourselves on a job well done and think we're doing well by them.
Nevertheless, our children are hard put to make some sort of interior life for themselves, if they can escape the screens and the scheduling and the relentless assault on their very nature. Many of our children find that they may, if they are lucky, only warm their hearts by means of the shavings of reality that they glean from what has been left in the dust — the reality of boy and girl, of beauty, of harmony and order, of the possibility of a sweet life that isn't a war of all against all. Children today are increasingly left in a state of spiritual starvation.
Let's be that other kind of grown-up — the kind who give them the miracle of preserving their childhood.
(Note: I'm only vouching for “Cookies and Monsters,” not the other portions of the podcast, and it's only a half an hour, though it looks like it will be an hour when you queue it up.)
On to our other links:
- An interview with Edward Short, author of Newman and History.
“I am often reminded of poor Ray Monk choosing to write the life of Bertrand Russell and finding halfway through that he actually loathed the man. The great thing about Newman is that one never tires of him. He was such a force in his own time that there is an unsurpassably rich mine of information from which to draw.”
- It's time, if you haven't already, to get informed about the “transgender” epidemic and its causes and drivers. This article looks at how it is growing and why:
“Elliott was suggesting that it is possible that our culture is not just revealing transgender individuals, it is creating them. If so, we can expect tremendous growth, as an entire industry is emerging to meet the growing need.”
- And this one reveals the incentives for the medical establishment to go ahead and fuel the craze to mutilate healthy bodies rather than treat hurting psyches (or intervene in cases of abuse).
In homeschooling thoughts:
- Board games can really teach history well. (And don't involve screens.) There are some embedded links that take you to suggestions.
- When you get to the part of school where you discuss churches, watch this series of videos on Sacred Architecture by Denis McNamara. Each one is short (under 10 minutes) and examines a different aspect of what makes a church a church, including what Scripture tells us. Prof. McNamara's delivery is lively and to the point — I learned a lot! (These videos are also a great companion to my Spirit of the Liturgy posts which are here and here — the last posts in each series with the others linked within.)
Here is the first in the video series — I've embedded it here for you, and if you don't see it, you can use the link in the previous paragraph:
- Have you seen the Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature? It has digitized versions of thousands of 19th century children's books. You can find more children's resources here.
Elsewhere:
- I just thought this hidden spring on Rt. 66 was charming. (I haven't seen it in person — have you?)
From the archives:
- My series on the moral life of the child and how to nurture it (the links to all the posts are in this one.) Remember: The family is the “school of virtue” and “the domestic Church.”
I had a great time talking to Mary Ellen Barrett on her Refresh virtual conference. This post gives you some idea of how I tried to avoid that late-winter burned out feeling in our homeschool, if you are interested in more practical advice from me. And I'm pretty sure you can register with her and hear the recordings, even if you missed the live version.
- Tomorrow is the Second Sunday of Lent — don't forget your St. Joseph prayers. How can it only be the Second Sunday?? Sukie's Freddie (age 3), with a sigh: “I need a break from Lent.” haha Freddie! Remember: Just live your Lent along with the Church. The desert is… a desert… (not to be confused with dessert, which, no.)
- But! Thursday is the feast of St. David of Wales! A nice treat is to go ahead and buy those daffodils at the grocery store if there are none in your yard (which, if you live at my latitude, there are not), and make a nice dish with leeks in it!
While you’re sharing our links with your friends, why not tell them about Like Mother, Like Daughter too!
We’d like to be clear that, when we direct you to a site via one of our links, we’re not necessarily endorsing the whole site, but rather just referring you to the individual post in question (unless we state otherwise).
Sibyl Niemann says
Your insistence on the need to be radical to give children a normal childhood is one of the many reasons that I have been a faithful reader of this blog since the beginning. You perfectly capture the practical difficulties, and your wisdom on various solutions has helped me a lot. I constantly recommend your work to others. Hoping that you will write a book about this topic — or maybe you are? Anyway, God bless you.
Emily says
I’m with Freddie. 🙂 But I will persevere!
Samantha Mashak says
Great post! I’m excited to listen to that podcast. BTW, where did you get that map of the United States in the background? 🙂
Leila says
Samantha, the map is a very fine one that I have posted about before. You can get it here: http://amzn.to/2F5bijc (This is an affiliate link.) You can read about what makes it different and better here: http://www.imusgeographics.com/
Samantha Mashak says
Thank you! Now another question if you don’t mind, what did you use to frame it? There are alot of ideas online but I like whatever you did there! 🙂
Leila says
The map comes laminated. We just put a light thin wooden strip on the top and bottom, using small pieces of command strip (it’s very light). We attached a string to the top strip and hung it on a nail in the wall. There is also a string from the nail straight down to the strip to keep it from bowing out. It is somewhat hacked but it works for us!
One reason to do it this way is that there is a lot of information on the back of the map (as well as a booklet that comes with it), so we wanted to be able to turn it easily.
Donna L. says
Thank you, Auntie Leila! I was just talking with my Darling Husband about the world and how it seems to be attacking the very center of our family’s innocence and moral fiber….some colleges are simply NOT worth the money….I appreciate your support in what we are trying to do. It feels that we are alone in this endeavor–until I read your post this morning!
Leila says
Thank you, Donna — we have to stick together 🙂
Kathleen L. says
Thank you, Leila! Love your sock pattern…can you share the pattern? I need to downsize my stash as well!
Your encouraging words are always welcome and needed! We must persevere and stay on the narrow, but, right path! God keep you and your family always!
Leila says
Thanks, Kathleen! I use the Turkish cast-on for toe-up socks. For these socks I used the Fish Lips Kiss heel — might try a different one like German short row for the next. And I used the stretchy bind-off for the cuff. I do a 1×1 ribbing with a twisted knit stitch for the cuff as well as for the instep — I think it makes the sock feel nicer on the foot that way and I’ve been trying to remember to do it!
Kathleen L. says
Thank you, Leila! I am fascinated with the instep….it makes so much sense! Plus the support of the arch (flat footed me), is an added bonus! I love your self strip yarn,too!
Betsy G. says
I used to live in the area where the “Fish Bowl Springs” is located but I don’t remember ever going there! We still have family in Bullhead, AZ, so I will make a point of checking out that neat little spot!
Mignon Thurow says
Preserving innocence…… such an important topic! I’m sure, if there were time and inclination (and perhaps there is?), you could write a book about it. But short and to-the-point is good too, and a nice reassurance to all of us out here in the beginning stages of that battle.
Jess says
I think this might be your most beautiful piece ever (re: the kids, not the socks!). Short, but deep and necessary. My husband and I just decided at dinner this evening that our children will be observing a tech fast for the rest of Lent — tablets and wii are killing their spirit, and on our watch. It’s hard. We justify their tech use because our children are homeschooled and we don’t want them to feel deprived of everything. Instead we should be focusing on the great gift we are giving them by preserving their childhood!
Terri says
That Cookies and Monsters story is amazing. What a blessing those teachers were.
Anamaria says
A normal childhood: so hard to do when your four year old meets a six year old at the park who tells her that he has two moms. We still don’t really watch tv, I sat with them all of the olympics that we watched to make sure there was nothing inappropriate, no institutional school so far… and still she asked if two women can get married because she went to the neighborhood park
Helen Hawersaat says
It is hard to do– at least that idea may not mean much to her, though! When I was eight, a girl at school told me that they were trying to make it legal for two women to get married. We just decided it was great, and that we would just get married and not have to deal with boys. I didn’t have to actually think about the idea until a few years later.
Leila says
Yes, I think that the matter-of-fact response here is the best. Just simply say, “oh no, two girls could never get married! Marriage is for a man and a woman.” It’s true and it will satisfy. If the child asks more, just say, “people can be very confused.”
One aim of the current confusion is to make you go into details when the child actually doesn’t need them. All you need to do here is establish your confident authority.
Anamaria says
Thank you. That is my husband’s response! I’ve been following his lead, but I am definitely tempted to over-explain.