OK, so it looks like 75% of you out there (3) like The Lioness at the Gate title and 25% of you (1) like It's OK to Stay Home. . . Really. I know it's a very pathetic sample, but because this blog is in its most likely eternal infancy, and I like the lioness name, too, I think I'll swap it.
Since everyone hates the word feminism, I'm going to change this URL to http://latg.blogspot.com/. Get it: The Lioness at the Gate?
I'm sorry, I'm a bit sarcastic tonight. I know not all of you hate the word feminism, but I don't want to make anyone feel evil for looking at a blog with the word in its URL.
Not sure when the change will occur, but hopefully soon.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
Join the Resistance
Apparently there's a new exhibit over in Europe portraying Hitler not as a man who led much of Germany astray, but as a man who represented the feelings of many Germans at the time. I caught a little bit of NPR this morning where they were talking about the subject. Something struck me: although these may have been some of the general feelings at the time (that it was okay to hate people and do horrible things to them), some people still resisted. These people put their lives on the line to save others.Then I realized, is this not like pornography today? Although it may appear to be generally accepted in American culture (look at Hollywood and other media), not everyone buys it. We have to resist. We must voice our concerns that we want to maintain a "higher community standard." We must be a vigilant lioness and protect our families from the scourge of pornography.
I could go into an explanation of why pornography is harmful or why being "prude" on the issue is a good thing, but I don't have time for that. I've heard the time is now to stop being shy about this issue. We have to speak up against it and win this battle.
Join the resistance.
11/9/10: Haha. Did you like how I wrote that all propagandishly?
Anyway, I thought I'd add something on how to join the resistance. A few groups/sites I've come across recently:
- http://www.outinthelight.com/
- http://www.strengthenthefamily.net/ (The lady who made this site lives in my neighborhood. I don't believe she's actively doing it much anymore, but she still has good info on her site).
- http://www.womenfordecency.org/
- Protecting Innocence Project (OK, this one's not really up and running yet, but I ran across Diapers and Divinity while trying to find Julie Beck's talk about the lioness at the gate. I was happy to see others making a grassroots effort to fight pornography.)
- Resistimony
- Mothers Who Should Know Better: LDS Ark Culture Embraces Pornography (article)
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Everything You Wanted to Know about Polygamy
I don't know if the topic of polygamy even belongs on this blog, but I do know that several of us who enjoy discussing the issues on this blog have also tried to figure out that whole polygamy thing. Evan read me Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Plural Marriage* (*but were afraid to ask) from the FAIR site one night while I was sewing. It was quite interesting.
You might enjoy it, too. Quite a lot of good research there.
11/15/10. After reading Julie Beck's talk on Teaching the Doctrine of the Family, I think I now have even more understanding of why early Mormons practiced polygamy. If you lived in a society where your ultimate goal was to have the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (great posterity and being sealed in the temple), and you could only get that through being married and having children, wouldn't you do all you could to be married and have children?
At that time, from what I understand, there were more female members of the church than males. Therefore, there wouldn't be enough men to go around. Also, what if a husband died? What if a husband left? The natural answer could be polygamy: it provided the benefits of family life to those who wanted it.
As Joseph Smith was trying to restore all things to a modern church, polygamy would naturally be one of those things he would ask about. Maybe God said, go ahead and try it -- although Biblical polygamy seemed to be somewhat culturally based -- because it had the potential to bless the lives of many so they could enjoy the blessings of family life on earth.
Maybe?
So why is this topic of polygamy so intriguing to me? I love history. I minored in it. I volunteer as a historical interpreter where I "interpret" at a polygamists home (although we don't emphasize polygamy; we focus on daily pioneer activities). I also have at least two absolutely fantastic great-something grandmothers who were second wives, and I just wonder what they thought about all of it.
You might enjoy it, too. Quite a lot of good research there.
11/15/10. After reading Julie Beck's talk on Teaching the Doctrine of the Family, I think I now have even more understanding of why early Mormons practiced polygamy. If you lived in a society where your ultimate goal was to have the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (great posterity and being sealed in the temple), and you could only get that through being married and having children, wouldn't you do all you could to be married and have children?
At that time, from what I understand, there were more female members of the church than males. Therefore, there wouldn't be enough men to go around. Also, what if a husband died? What if a husband left? The natural answer could be polygamy: it provided the benefits of family life to those who wanted it.
As Joseph Smith was trying to restore all things to a modern church, polygamy would naturally be one of those things he would ask about. Maybe God said, go ahead and try it -- although Biblical polygamy seemed to be somewhat culturally based -- because it had the potential to bless the lives of many so they could enjoy the blessings of family life on earth.
Maybe?
So why is this topic of polygamy so intriguing to me? I love history. I minored in it. I volunteer as a historical interpreter where I "interpret" at a polygamists home (although we don't emphasize polygamy; we focus on daily pioneer activities). I also have at least two absolutely fantastic great-something grandmothers who were second wives, and I just wonder what they thought about all of it.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Advantages of Home-Schooling
Just to be sure you know where I am coming from, I really love public education. I truly feel that it can do a better job at educating my kids than I can. I never wanted to home-school my kids because teaching different kids different things all at the same time just stresses me out. However, I always dreamed of coming up with really cool activities for my kids before the school years as well as for the summer. I thought I'd be something like No Time for Flashcards.
Has it happened? No, not nearly like I'd hoped, but I am getting better at it.
During the summers, I volunteer with my kids at This Is the Place Heritage Park in Salt Lake City. Many of the volunteer families there are home-schooled families. When I first learned this, my (terribly rude and stereotypical) reaction was, will they be weird like the home-schooled kids I'd heard about growing up? No. They were wonderful! I'd never met such confident and responsible teenagers! Since then, I've met other home-schooled kids that I find amazing!
One time on LAF/Beautiful Womanhood, a link was posted to an article on the Duggar family. You know, the ones with the 19/20 kids. (I have to be honest here, I used to think people with lots of kids were crazy. I think I picked that attitude up when I was young and started hearing people make rude birth control comments toward others with large families. After becoming a mother, though, I have a gained a HUGE amount of respect for families who do have lots of children. I think our Heavenly Father wants to give us as many children as we are willing to take; so, more power to you if you have a quiverfull!)
Anyway, the article said,
On a side-note, I've learned, the reason we all thought home-schooled kids were weird growing up was because they were more mature, confident, and responsible. They could talk to adults. We were the dorky ones following the fads.
Has it happened? No, not nearly like I'd hoped, but I am getting better at it.
During the summers, I volunteer with my kids at This Is the Place Heritage Park in Salt Lake City. Many of the volunteer families there are home-schooled families. When I first learned this, my (terribly rude and stereotypical) reaction was, will they be weird like the home-schooled kids I'd heard about growing up? No. They were wonderful! I'd never met such confident and responsible teenagers! Since then, I've met other home-schooled kids that I find amazing!
One time on LAF/Beautiful Womanhood, a link was posted to an article on the Duggar family. You know, the ones with the 19/20 kids. (I have to be honest here, I used to think people with lots of kids were crazy. I think I picked that attitude up when I was young and started hearing people make rude birth control comments toward others with large families. After becoming a mother, though, I have a gained a HUGE amount of respect for families who do have lots of children. I think our Heavenly Father wants to give us as many children as we are willing to take; so, more power to you if you have a quiverfull!)
Anyway, the article said,
While, admittedly, I admire the Duggars for much of what they do, I didn’t expect what I saw in these 3 girls. The world has yet to beat them into submission. They don’t watch the Disney Channel, so they’ve yet to learn that adults are buffoons and parents are embarrassing. They don’t listen to the local rock station, so they’ve yet do discover life is supposed to be one promiscuous event followed by another. They don’t attend public school, so they’ve yet to learn teenage girls are required to be filled with angst and riddled with insecurities.
I realized that if these types of families can raise these children to be so exceptional, they must be doing something right. I don't think I need to necessarily home-school my kids to teach these things, I just need to stress these attitudes and qualities in other ways.As we spoke to the 3 of them, one word kept jumping out at me: Freedom. These girls were experiencing freedom teenagers rarely taste. Completely free to be themselves. The exact opposite of the words so often used by media folk to describe the 19 kids.
On a side-note, I've learned, the reason we all thought home-schooled kids were weird growing up was because they were more mature, confident, and responsible. They could talk to adults. We were the dorky ones following the fads.
Are the schools doing too much?
I had a recent e-mail conversation with a friend. We both felt that school was taking over our lives. How is there any time to do anything as a family, any lessons, any sports, any church activities when the kids are in school all day, then they have homework in the evenings? When do they have time to play? I don't know how people have time to put their kids in extracurricular activities.
Then I start to think about it and get slightly lazy. I realize my child gets extracurricular activities at school: art, sports, music, recess, lunch, socializing, fieldtrips. I don't have to provide it for him. I don't have to pay extra for it, either -- I've already paid for it in my taxes.
As for field-trips, I do get slightly annoyed with them. My son has already gone to a play and will be going to the planetarium shortly. I'd like to take him to the planetarium myself, but when would we go? Why would I take him if he's just gone? I'd also have to pay for it.
What an irony! Is the school system replacing me as a parent? Shouldn't I be doing these things?
I realize I can. It's called volunteering. When I am in the classroom, I can feel a part of my child's academic and social education!
(OK, this post is a little satirical, and there are additional worthwhile extra-curricular activities and things the schools can't/don't do, but I think I'll feel better about my kids' education when I am as involved as I can be. You can bet I will work harder to be in the classroom/at the school even more now! It's a lot easier than home-schooling them!)
Then I start to think about it and get slightly lazy. I realize my child gets extracurricular activities at school: art, sports, music, recess, lunch, socializing, fieldtrips. I don't have to provide it for him. I don't have to pay extra for it, either -- I've already paid for it in my taxes.
As for field-trips, I do get slightly annoyed with them. My son has already gone to a play and will be going to the planetarium shortly. I'd like to take him to the planetarium myself, but when would we go? Why would I take him if he's just gone? I'd also have to pay for it.
What an irony! Is the school system replacing me as a parent? Shouldn't I be doing these things?
I realize I can. It's called volunteering. When I am in the classroom, I can feel a part of my child's academic and social education!
(OK, this post is a little satirical, and there are additional worthwhile extra-curricular activities and things the schools can't/don't do, but I think I'll feel better about my kids' education when I am as involved as I can be. You can bet I will work harder to be in the classroom/at the school even more now! It's a lot easier than home-schooling them!)
Protecting Is a Part of Good Parenting
I enjoyed this article from Generation Cedar, Protecting is a Part of Good Parenting (link from LAF/Beautiful Womanhood). A good summary of the article comes from one of the comments:
I think it’s silly that a lot of parents refuse to shelter their children from worldly ugly things only to shelter them from any amount of responsibility.Amen!
Who Am I Supposed to Be?
I ran across Who Am I Supposed to Be? through LAF/Beautiful Womanhood one time. I loved how Jasmine at Joyfully at Home had such a positive attitude toward staying at home. I wondered how to get that attitude. I wished I'd had it with me all along.
I didn't realize at first that she is what is termed a stay-at-home-daughter. I'm not sure I'm so keen on the concept, but her heart is in the right place for someday becoming a stay-at-home mom.
I guess the balancing question is, how do we teach our daughters to have the attitudes expressed in the article regarding staying home and caring for a family, yet still develop the qualities that help them become independent? Is it possible to have both? How?
I didn't realize at first that she is what is termed a stay-at-home-daughter. I'm not sure I'm so keen on the concept, but her heart is in the right place for someday becoming a stay-at-home mom.
I guess the balancing question is, how do we teach our daughters to have the attitudes expressed in the article regarding staying home and caring for a family, yet still develop the qualities that help them become independent? Is it possible to have both? How?
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