Last night I saw a fantastic movie, pun unintended, called Captain Fantastic starring Viggo Mortensen as an eccentric but well meaning father, teaching and training his six children in the ways of life. The family lives out alone in the woods and his different methods of raising his children ultimately are called into question at one point in the movie. The thing is, his children, although eccentric as well, were educated at a level far beyond their peers, were in top shape and living a healthy life. However because their education and way of life Is not 100% normal the children become at risk to be taken away.
Anyway, no more about the movie, if you are interested in seeing it, I totally recommend it, but the real question I pose is should the government be able to interfere in your parenting, if you are adhering to all the laws? I like the think the United States is a country with many different freedoms that are upheld, but in the past 20 or so years we have seen many cases where children are taken away from their parents because they were being taught something that the state or general public doesn’t agree with.
Im not completely sure where I fall on the spectrum of how much power of intervention the government should have in the raising of your own child, but I do know I see some hypocrisies. For example if you are using public services like school utilities ect. I think perhaps the government might be able to have more say, for example forcing your child to vaccinate if they wish to attend publicly offered school. However what if you are teaching your child in homeschooling, but you are teaching them hate towards other people.
There was the notorious case a few years ago where two parents named one of their children Hitler and was basically programming little hateful Nazis. The government stepped in and removed the children for their safety and while things aren’t totally clear, it does seem that the children might have been not as cared for as they should have been in terms of parental responsibility. However I would like to play devil’s advocate and ask what if they had been completely safe and in a happy situation, while happening to be raised as Nazi’s?
Would the government still have the right to step in and remove the children from their home? Is it much different than fundamentalist Christians in the bible belt teaching their children to hate homosexuals? Where do we draw the line on what is acceptable to teach your child? Raising an asshole kid isn’t illegal, in fact I know many people who did it and are seen as pillars of the community. So at what point does the government overstep their bounds?
If you have any alternative views on how to raise your child in the United States, you could potentially be under threat of the government deeming you “unfit” as a parent which really could be anything. The government could take away your child and there would really be nothing you could do about it. This is a scary thought, only made scarier by the idea of where your children might be placed. Perhaps your child ends up living in an abuse foster situation because you were deemed unfit? Where is the justice in that.
Im curious what you guys think because to me it seems like theres a very thin line that actually dictates when the government steps in. Basically if they feel like they don’t want you as a parent, anything can be done to discredit you which seems wrong. Where should we draw the line?
I have been teaching for the past 22 years and can only say that I can't trust the government in having our children benefit coming first! There are administrative pressures, not to talk of financial ones, that take priority over our children. That should simply not be the case as they are our #1 natural resource, if we were to put it bluntly. They are simply to precious to be relegated to third, second, fourth or whatever place.
History seem to have plenty of examples showing us that we shouldn't trust a government with our children. This is one extreme of the spectrum. If all parents were as intelligent as their progeniture, that be an easy matter to deal with. We'd simply have to educate them ourselves to a certain age where other trustworthy adults could take on the next phase of their education, such as it has been in multiple aboriginal cultures.
Unfortunately, it isn't the case. Then comes the crux of the question, who do we trust with our kids and is it worth the risk??? Keeping an open communication with our children about their educators and ourselves might just help us all slowly get out of this marasmic situation our future, our children, and us all are facing right now, especially with the infringement of corporate influences in our education system...
Thanks for sharing and opening this important discussion with us all on Steemit.com Our communities must have loads to share about this. All for one and one for all! Namaste :)
I totally agree with what you've said. I balk at the government having ANYTHING to do with raising my children. Luckily mine are grown and I got to raise them with little government interference. Today it's becoming ridiculous at the number of problems they cause normal families trying to raise their kids the best they know about. Education used to be voluntary, it's one of the first things they took away. Now education is mandatory and the parents can be jailed and fined for truancy. It's become ridiculous to an extreme.
The Gooberment needs to intervene with stupid people (and there is a lot of stupid people making kids). The government on the other hand needs to leave child raising to smart people and keep hands off..
It should prevent abuse, but beyond that shouldn't really be an arbiter.
excelente publicacion amigo :)
Great topic and post! In my opinion, if the children are harmed or malnourished, that should be cause for investigation. Also if they are being taught to actively harm others or cause undue offense.
Otherwise, I think we might tread into thought crime area, if we try to dictate what others can think. Even in the case of something like the Nazi example as long as the children are taught to follow laws. I don't see how people can be forced not to think or say their beliefs.
I've seen government intervention work well, and I've seen it go horribly wrong, from the inside as one of a team of people tasked with helping children.
What works well, is when the focus is on the health and well being of the child and the family. That all breaks down as soon as politics, religion and personal agendas / vendettas get involved.
New Zealand used to have a 'cradle to grave' social welfare system. It was seen as the government's job to care for its people.
Sadly we have lost that vision. Now we are as neo-liberal as the rest of the western world, so the government views us as a revenue stream now.
I feel that good government should help and support families that are struggling. It should work to prevent abuse and neglect. and it should understand that not everyone fits into the state education system and make allowances for those that will excel in a different environment.
If there's somebody who understand children very well, its the parents. No parents would wanted to do a thing harm their children. They are doing what they believe what is right for them. They have the heart towards them. Compared to the government, they are just about theories and things that has nothing to do with the emotional state of the childre. Yes, they indeed very smart in study human beings, how their mind and emotion react to things around them but there is a connection between biological parents which the so-called social workers dont have.
I am in favor of as much freedom as possible and the US used to lean that way but the more laws Congress enacts the more freedoms we lose. I remember the saying, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never harm me." We learned to be tough and take mean words when I was growing up. Now if you say the wrong thing to the wrong person, you end up in jail. I don't believe in verbal abuse in any way, but I do believe it is not for the government to control us. Since taking the Bible and 10 Commandments and many other such things out of public view, what can we expect?
government's don't have rights. Government has power. the question is how powerful do you want your government to be.
According to the US constitution the federal government has no such power.
that's easy.. none lol :)
This is a complicated issue. We all understand and have at least a vague idea of a bad situation where the government should and needs to step in. The problem lies in the relativity of ideals, everybody draws the line in different places so... we will never find a happy medium.
None. Everything should be voluntary, but raising a child doesnt always work out that way. Taking a child against the childs will is wrong. Only when the treatment is so bad that the child wants to leave you can offer it safety. In that case though what right would you have to command the child? If you refuse the parents rights to order the child where do you get yours?
Taking children away from the parents should be the last thing governments should do. Only if the parents are abusing their children or totally neglecting them, then govt. should interfere. In India, govt. interference is almost 0 in this case, until the parents are found to be doing really bad things to their children, maybe like sexual abuse or extreme violence. Otherwise govt. doesn't put it's nose in this matter. Basically here we feel that in general parents (especially mothers) think the best for their children. It's very surprising for us to hear that in western countries it is not uncommon for the govt. to separate the children from their parents, on small issues like slapping, which is kinda an essential part of parenting here!!!!
GET GOVT OUT OF YOUR ENTIRE LIFE there is no room for it anyhow...