Question for All Members

As a parent, I often wonder how to explain the world to my children. As I know there are other parents here on ATS, I wonder what it is you tell your children about the government, war, and the world they live in. My son is curious, asking many questions about everything. Do you lie to protect them until they are old enough to decide for themselves, and if so, how old is old enough? Do you gently explain them the truths of the world as we believe it, and if you do are you implanting ideas that will shape their future and mold their minds?

All kids know about Aliens, UFO's, and Ghosts, but how about 9/11 conspiracies? How about chemtrails? Flouride in our water? How far do we, as parents, go to protect our children from the world. If we do lie to protect them, isn't it possible the government is doing the same for us? The motto here is "Deny Ignorance" how far do we go to deny this. Do we explain to our children the "truths" or simply allow them to discover it on their own?

Kids know more than us today. If i try to explain UFO's to my grandchildren they roll their eyes and laugh. So much for that.

Where i am very careful is with the government- they should be taught to respect their country and their flag, no matter what chaos or problems may be looming. It is alright in my view to let them know about presidents and how they have either 4 or 8 year terms and they should also know that some of them are NOT popular, and in such cases we ride out the storm until a new one gets elected.
They should be taught they life in a wonderful land (I'm in America, i presume that's where you are) and that things will be ok.
Dont bad mouth the president in front of them as they do not understand and out of the mouth of babes...trouble could come your way.

As far as 9/11 conspiracies, NO. Do not go there at all. When they are old enough to read up all the facts they can make up their own mind.

Children shouldnt know everything. Just as you shouldnt discuss with them your financial troubles either. Let them be children, but dont lie too much- such things as the moon is made out of cheese just makes parents look stupid.

Good luck.

What is your child's age?
I am honest about everything with my son, hes 13 now.
He knows of my beliefs in the paranormal and ufos and is left to make up his own mind about such things.
For the most part though, he believes as i do.
Its just him and i at home, his mother and sister live 400 miles away so we are not just father and son, we are also like friends.

[edit on 13-2-2007 by Kr0n0s]

I'm stealing your signature to answer your question...

Be careful, this could get dirty.

Great question, great post, BTW.

Do you lie to protect them until they are old enough to decide for themselves, and if so, how old is old enough? Do you gently explain them the truths of the world as we believe it, and if you do are you implanting ideas that will shape their future and mold their minds?

I don't think lying is the right solution. Certain information can (and probably should be) withheld, due to issues of age and mental ability.

To answer the second question there, yes, we do implant ideas. However, kids will grow up and think on their own, eventually, if they're given half a chance. As an example, racist parents produce kids who grow up to detest racists, about as often as they produce kids who grow up just like mom and dad.

It falls to you to teach them HOW to think, in my opinion, and not WHAT to think.

I'm sure others will disagree with me, but I'm just not comfortable with the idea of programming a child like a VCR, to believe what I believe, to want what I want..yaknow?

I would rather try to teach critical thinking skills, problem solving, and nurture the natural curiosity of children that so often gets beaten down.

I guess there's also the issue of morality. One could argue that teaching morality is no different than teaching conspiracy theories, but for me, they're different. I wouldn't feel comfortable raising a child without instructing them in proper manners...

So maybe it's a matter of degrees, or I'm just a hypocrite. Dunno.

All kids know about Aliens, UFO's, and Ghosts, but how about 9/11 conspiracies?

What good is 'knowledge' of 9/11 going to do for a young child? More importantly, how do we know that what we know is really true? I've been reading on the subject since it happened, I'm an adult, and while I definitely feel the official story is missing a lot, I don't feel confident enough in my own understanding to feel comfortable imparting it as FACT.

I lived in Manhattan, I watched it happen, I very nearly lost a loved one to the second tower collapse, and I've read every bit of information that I could get my hands on for the past 5+ years - and I don't feel confident in my understanding of the events.

It fills me with dread to think that someone whose knowledge of 9/11 is the grand sum of a 2 hour movie and a handful of internet articles written by anonymous nutters could have the indecency to program their children with information that probably couldn't be more wrong. Yaknow? That's scary...

Wouldn't it be better to make the child a partner in discovery, rather than fabricate a map from your own flawed understandings and force them to adhere to it?

Please don't mistake this for an attack on you in any way, I think this topic is really very interesting and merits discussion. I'm not saying you in particular are misled about one conspiracy topic or another, but let's face it, a lot of people are, and will continue to be well into the future.

I don't know how many people (if any!) completely understand the more complicated topics, of the sort discussed here, like 9/11, the war, global politics and economics, things of that nature. When parents are overconfident in the truth of their own beliefs, I think they do a disservice to their children.

Seems wiser, to me at least, to give the child all the tools you can, and let them dig up whatever interests them.

I'm sure religious people feel differently about this than I do, because they're comfortable believing something without evidence, or even logic. But it doesn't work for me.

I could no more instill fear of an invisible bearded creator god in my child, than I could tell them Bush had a hand in 9/11. I doubt the former, suspect the latter, but lack the confidence in either as TRUTH to make my belief their belief, if you get what I'm saying.

Parents have a lot of control, when it comes to how their children think and act. That's an awesome responsibility that shouldn't be taken lightly.

I really can't say this enough - wonderful idea for a thread. I hope it generates a good discussion.

My son is almost 10. Me and my better half were outside the other day and make a "joke" about chemtrails in the sky. Well, you know children, they hear everything you say (except when it's time to clean their room). He asked what we were talking about and we quickly changed the topic and moved on. It got me to wondering what other parents here on ATS told their kids when questions were asked.

Even at a very young age children know the difference between make-believe and reality.

This is why children laugh at stories about 9/11 conspiracies, fluoride, and UFO's. In some ways they are wiser than their parents.

Wyrd One - I couldn't have put it better if I had tried

It falls to you to teach them HOW to think, in my opinion, and not WHAT to think.

And Dirty Underground, just the fact that you question what you should tell your children surely means that you will only tell them what's appropriate for them.

I've found, over the years, that children only take in what they're capable of understanding, so I never lie, sometimes I choose my words carefully, I qualify my statements with "some people think", I make absolutely sure my kids know I'm fallable just like every other human on this planet, and if they think I or anyone else is wrong they have the right to tell them so (unless of course its their big sister and she happens to be pre-menstrual, but we all need to know when to keep their heads down and our mouths shut!)

Cheers Cara

[edit on 14-2-2007 by Mayacara]

Even though I tell my son what i believe, he also knows that there is a stigma in society regarding these kinds of beliefs, so he doesnt go around talking about it to other people.

Originally posted by dirty_underground
My son is almost 10. Me and my better half were outside the other day and make a "joke" about chemtrails in the sky. Well, you know children, they hear everything you say (except when it's time to clean their room).

He asked what we were talking about and we quickly changed the topic and moved on. It got me to wondering what other parents here on ATS told their kids when questions were asked.

Thank you all for your answers, I was just curious as to how others handled difficult questions kids often ask when the parent's beliefs may not be of the norm. I do allow my child to hear both sides of the story even if one of them may not be my views. A simple answer is never good enough I know how influential children can be at these ages. I hear it when I notice my son talk about Global Warming and pollution, based on things he's heard me say. He's heard my views on politics enough to know that I don't agree with Bush and his choices, therefore he makes comments based on what he's heard me say (not directed at him, just in general conversation he overhears).

Sometimes he asks questions about some of the topics here on ATS. No, I don't allow him to read ATS posts, but he does enjoy the UFO videos and pictures, along with the ghost pictures just as anyone one of us do. It got me to wondering if any other people had this going on and how they responded.