Instilling racial identity in today’s children
by Robert S. Griffin
What links these parents is a conviction that they are bringing up their children in hostile territory. As they see it, their kind has been hammered relentlessly in the culture wars waged against whites in this country for decades. Their heritage — Western history and traditions — has been denigrated, their race linked to oppression and racism, and their racial consciousness, pride, and commitment demonized. The shallowness and egoism of modern life run counter to their values of dignity, discipline, and responsibility.
This is an excellent article. I’d read it in the early years of this century (boy, does that sound ancient) when I was first developing a racial consciousness in addition to my Christian faith. I think it’s a valuable read for anyone contemplating parenthood.
They weigh less than 3 pounds, usually, and are perhaps 15 inches long. But they can remember.
The unborn have memories, according to medical researchers who used sound and vibration stimulation, combined with sonography, to reveal that the human fetus displays short-term memory from at least 30 weeks gestation - or about two months before they are born.
“In addition, results indicated that 34-week-old fetuses are able to store information and retrieve it four weeks later,” said the research, which was released Wednesday.
“It seems like every day we find out marvelous new things about the development of unborn children. We hope that this latest information helps people realize more clearly that the unborn are members of the human family with amazing capabilities and capacities like these built in from the moment of conception,” said Randall K. O’Bannon, director of education and research for the National Right to Life Educational Trust Fund.
In 2003, psychologists and obstetricians at Queen’s University in Canada found a profound mother-baby link. In a study of 60 pregnant women, they found that the unborn babies preferred the voices of their own mothers - both before and after birth.
Interesting maybe those pregnant mothers who play classical music for their unborn child have the right idea.
Classical Music Can Have Powerful Effects Even Before Birth
One recent study demonstrates that children exposed to classical music in the womb show a positive change in physical and mental development after birth. In this experiment, fetuses were exposed to 70 hours of classical music during the last weeks of pregnancy. When studied at six months, these babies were more advanced in terms of motor, linguistic and intellectual development than babies who received no musical stimulus during pregnancy.
Scientists explain that children are born with 100 billion nerve cells in their bodies. These cells, however, are connected only loosely. Each event a baby experiences - such as listening to his mother, seeing a picture, feeling a sheet against his skin, or attempting to touch a toy hanging above - triggers electrical signals (neural impulses) which establish or strengthen the intercellular connections in the brain.
The larger the number of connections in the brain, the richer its functioning. Neural pathways left unused usually die out. Therefore it stands to reason that an infant’s earliest experiences can mold the brain and determine much of the infant’s adult potential. Scientists believe that learning music is one of those “brain-building” experiences.1
The recession is making life a little messier for some toddlers and their parents.
Disposable training pants, long viewed as a staple in potty training children, are becoming dispensable as some parents choose value over convenience in the recession.
These days, an accident here and there has become an acceptable tradeoff for saving some $30 to $100 a month. And many parents say that doing away with the crutch has had an added benefit: surprisingly quick toilet training.
A mother spends more time with her baby during the first few weeks than at any other time. I hear many mothers say, “All I do is nurse and change diapers and nurse again.” Then, why not use that same time to begin training your child for when she is two? Gracie was potty trained from a newborn to poop on the pot, and now my second little girl is ten months, but she has also been potty trained to poop on the pot since she was born. She still wears diapers to catch her little tinkle, tinkles. She is not perfect, but I never get that greenish brown stink on my hands in the grocery store. I won’t have a two-year-old walking around dragging a loaded diaper.
My mother swore I was potty trained at 12months. Perhaps that’s not too much to expect? Back in the 80s it was de rigeur to let the kid stay in diapers until they were durn good and ready to potty train. Now it appears we changed about six thousand diapers too many…
The first command given to man and woman was to reproduce, multiply, fill the earth and have dominion over it. Jesus explained Biblical dominion, not as domination, but as service; He said:
“The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’
“But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves.
“For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves.” Luke 22:25-27 NKJV
As young women, we have more time to serve; caring for the things of the LORD (I Cor. 7). In order to build Christian culture, we must have an education that surpasses what the local college offers. While college classes may supplement a good education, they will never take the place of the training Scripture calls us to.
While I disagree with the statement attributed to Rushdoony that “...we started fearing foreigners when we stopped evangelizing them,” as I believe that fear is valuable and has its place in helping protect ones own, there are many good suggestions in this article for a scripture-driven life focus for young women.
The “Bottom” Line
Aside from the environmental and health arguments, many parents feel, as I do, that cotton is a purer, softer, simpler choice than paper and plastic, and that if their babies could vote, they’d choose cloth themselves. In fact, my four year old, who has tried pull-ups at night and inevitably wakes up with an itchy rash, has made it clear to me that she prefers cotton. Many cloth diaper companies are now offering adult sizes, as incontinent adults look for alternatives to the feeling of a mushy mass of paper wadded between their legs.
The bottom line is that choosing cloth diapers doesn’t have to be a daunting prospect—it’s simple, it’s convenient, it’s inexpensive. And it’s the best choice you can make for the health of your baby, and of the planet.
...I scrolled through endless websites, absorbing every bit of data ever posted about cloth diapers. I became fascinated with prefolds, fitteds, covers, wraps-you name it. I was committed to uncovering the facts-and now I’m laying them out for you.
There are some good things about the “Kingdom-Driven Daughters” article, but I don’t really like some parts of the article; comes a bit too close to Neo-Babelism. And why did she abandon her mother and sister at the airport? Shouldn’t she have waited for them to get through airport security? Why were they going to New York City? Where did she stay? It sounds a bit odd not to tell us. It looks like they failed to get to the airport on time, I think they usually say you are supposed arrive three hours before your flight leaves.
We had planned to be together on this trip, but I got held up by airport security for forgetting a “no-no” in my purse and missed our flight. We prayed all the way home that God would bless Dinah flying alone during this, her first flight since she was six weeks old.
Hi, Faust. I don’t know all the details of their travel arrangements; and these days, having a bottle of hand sanitizer can be the “no-no” in ones purse.
Some of the Kingdom Driven Daughters article is a little too much on the current edge of “Christianity” which often edges into neo-babelism. But there are very good points in it, and not every article one finds that has something of merit in it is going to be completely in line with our beliefs as Kinists; in fact, I think those articles are yet to be written by those who believe as we do. The Mothering articles on diapering are certainly taken from a secular/progressive point of view; still, the information thy contain about diapering is very useful.
(Just went back and re-read the article. The whole immigrants section is probably the one that is bothering you as being neo-babelistic.)
Not sure what you’re saying about the traveling to NY thing; could you clarify? I think they’re saying they use conversations with people, as a general rule, as opportunities to witness to people about Christian womanhood, and these are just examples.
Well, I would not have abandoned my sister at the airport, it is not clear if the mother was also going. I would have waited and missed the flight. I was just wondering what she was doing on the trip and how she was being supervised. And I hate to say it, I really don’t like the idea of young unmarried woman traveling alone these days. Yes I did get the point of the article about opportunities to witness to people.
Well, I would not have abandoned my sister at the airport, it is not clear if the mother was also going. I would have waited and missed the flight. I was just wondering what she was doing on the trip and how she was being supervised. And I hate to say it, I really don’t like the idea of young unmarried woman traveling alone these days. Yes I did get the point of the article about opportunities to witness to people.
Gosh, Faust, that’s one area you and I would have to differ in; I’m sure there are others out there who would differ with me as well, on the topic of travel.
We’ve never had any problems with travel and the feminine types being on their own; if a young lady is trustworthy, she’s trustworthy. If she’s not, then you could lock her up in a cage and she’d still get into trouble. Dangers should, of course, be discussed, but my general experience has been that if a young lady has been trained well and is calm and capable of handling situations on her own, she will be fine.
Well that was not really quite what I was trying say. My main point was I was I would not have abandoned the person I was traveling with at the airport.
A new analysis of U.S. health data links children’s attention-deficit disorder with exposure to common pesticides used on fruits and vegetables.
While the study couldn’t prove that pesticides used in agriculture contribute to childhood learning problems, experts said the research is persuasive.
“I would take it quite seriously,” said Virginia Rauh of Columbia University, who has studied prenatal exposure to pesticides and wasn’t involved in the new study.
Another good reason to eat locally grown, organic foods.
Sort of a fancy blog, but with some excellent articles. I know some folks disagree with the Botkins on child-rearing, but some of these articles seem excellent, esp. the one on the Waldensians.
