Articles
The Dismal State of Modern Parenthood
Seems like nothing can set me off quite like lifestyle articles in the Washington Post. Here’s the latest in the Post’s efforts to mainstream homosexual behavior (online edition, 12/27/15). The premise: the author, Mary Novaria, discovers that her 16 year-old daughter is a homosexual only after letting her girlfriend spend the night in her bedroom.
Ms. Novaria explains: “I guess I should have figured it out. Two years earlier, I’d walked in on my daughter with another girl. Her bedroom door was shut, the room was dark, and the two of them looked sheepish when I peeked in. That friend was a known troublemaker and I didn’t trust her. Unexpectedly and unbidden, she’d blurted out, ‘I’m not gay or anything!’”
Strike 1: For missing an obvious warning sign that something was amiss.
Then Ms. Novaria makes this lame observation: “Just like any mother, I want to protect my kids from heartbreak. But, of course, we can’t and probably shouldn’t even if we could. First forays into love and sex, gay or straight, are painful but necessary teachers. How else do we learn about boundaries, trust and resilience?”
Strike 2: For assuming that sexual experimentation is the way young people learn what is morally right. This is the typical drumbeat from the amoral left. They have declared that it is unjust for parents to shape their children according to their values; children have to discover their values on their own (by their “forays” into unstructured experimentation). The underlying assumption is that all forms of sexuality are “natural” and acceptable; one merely has to identify his/her preference.
Further, Ms. Novaria displays her moral confusion and lack of clear parenting skills in the following observation: “Also like other teen relationships, regardless of sexuality, teen trysts tend to flame out quickly. So while the smoldering embers of that romance burned my daughter without discrimination, I got a reprieve on figuring out my house rules for same sex relationships.”
Strike 3: For neglecting to set clear “house rules” barring her daughter’s homosexual experimentation. And to make matters worse, Ms. Novaria concludes her article with this jewel: “After my daughter turned 18, I let her next girlfriend spend the night. I wouldn’t have been so hospitable to a young man in her bed, so I’m definitely guilty of having a double standard. It’s one I can live with though, because I don’t want her to be sneaky and secretive. And, more than anything, I don’t want my daughter to ever be ashamed of whom she loves.”
Her admission of a double standard is completely overshadowed by her fear of forcing her daughter to be “sneaky” about her relationships (Refer back to last week’s article entitled “Blaming Right for Wrong.” Here is good example of how that is done by those who are morally confused.)
Four strikes and yer out! But the last swing-and-a-miss is Ms. Novaria’s closing remark. In our society, no one is to ever be ashamed of anything. Own it! Be proud of it! Act confidently like the emperor who rode around on horseback buck naked until the unsullied mind of a youngster pointed out that he was, well, naked. I feel sorry for Ms. Novaria’s daughter who has gotten no moral or spiritual guidance from her mother.
For those who think I am making too much of one anecdotal story, I beg to differ. Sadly, there are many more Mary Novarias in our society who are completely unequipped to guide their children through the land mines of godless philosophy. And those land mines are exploding the very concept of true identity, value and hope that every person craves and seeks.
