Submitted by Daniel Amaduri (The Dissident Dad) via Mike Krieger’s Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,
I want to share with my children everything I’ve learned over these past few years as I’ve abandoned my mental and emotional slavery and embraced personal sovereignty. Defending my children from the lies of statists and oligarchs is one of the most important things I can do as a parent.
However, a healthy concern I have is that I don’t want to merely replace the state. What I mean is I don’t want to eliminate state propaganda and brainwashing and merely replace it with my own equivalent.
My intentions are good as a parent, but I never want to allow my passion and perspective to become the automatic default belief system for my children.
As a dad who is always learning and trying to find his footing in a world filled with increasing levels of madness, I have written down 3 core values for myself as a father that I read aloud everyday:
1. Teach them to think for themselves
2. Respect
3. Learn together
Teaching Them to Think
The temptation to raise fellow activists is definitely there. My son and I even made a Nevada paper a few years ago when we met Ron Paul. Since then, I’ve pushed for common sense thinking lessons, rather than alliances with any one political belief.
I have found using everyday life as learning experiences helps the process. For example, after catching some fish with my son, we had the following conversation.
Me: It’s great that you caught fish. Should we eat them or give them to the neighbor? Because I heard they like fish.
Son: No. I want to eat them (4 years old at the time).
Me: What if the neighbor comes and takes one of our fish? Would that be okay?
Son: No.
Me: If the police came and took a fish, would it be right, then?
Son (after thinking about it for a few seconds): No. That’s my fish. I caught them.
The lesson here is that stealing is wrong. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the neighbor or a cop using civil asset forfeiture.
Respect
Treat other people how you want to be treated. Respect all life; it’s all a miracle.
Show respect to all beings, even the smallest of creatures that typically get stepped on for no good reason, is a virtue that will help children to think before they cause harm. It’s also a great way to view the world. To see violence for what it is – evil.
Learn Together
What a great way to learn… learning with your children. Take them to debates, documentary movies, visit the library together, and interact with people outside your typical comfort zone whenever possible.
Most importantly, follow up on questions you don’t know the answer to. You don’t have to pretend to be the immediate authority on everything just because your child asks you something. Encourage conversations and question everything.
Raising Adults
Ultimately, your kids are going to make their own decisions. Instead of trying to train them to believe what we believe, I’m going to focus my energies on teaching them to think, even when it counters the old man’s beliefs.
Damn good advice.
May the “Dissident Dad” be blessed so that his grandchildren are reared likewise.
Cheers, S. Rex
I teach my son to think for himself. How to think.
Mostly what I do is draw the curtain aside and show him what’s behind it… then let him make his decisions based on what he knows, now that he knows ‘the rest of the story’…
I told him that his grandfather – my dad – was right about 99% of everything he ever told me. And that when I was young, I rejected everything he said. It took me 20 years, but I finally realized that everything I had learned the hard way, his grandfather already tried to tell me. I also told him about being afforded the chance to apologize to his grandfather and give him a measure of vindication before he passed…
It is the job of a parent to, first and foremost, teach a child how to think. The second is to prepare your kids for what they will encounter in life. To pass on hard-won life lessons – which is, in effect, what to think. If you don’t, you are condemning your children to reinventing the wheel over and over…
Moreover, if you know certain things, but withhold that information because you want your kids to make up their own mind, and something awful happens, then you are directly responsible for what happened to your kids… it’s about self-preservation.
In effect, “This is what your grandfather tried to tell me. I didn’t believe him. He was right. Now, I’m telling you. This is the way things are, the way people are. Times change. Human nature does not.”
Respect?
Respect is earned. Even self respect. It isn’t given freely. That’s not an excuse to treat people like shit, though. You treat people with dignity, but true respect means the other person has to do something worthy of respect before they are awarded it…
Don’t have any problem with his ‘learning’ thing.. I gave my son a copy of “Atlas Shrugged” last week. He’s ready for it. Didn’t tell him anything other than “It’s a good book”… when he’s done, then we can dissect what happened in the book and why…
Some things – mostly philosophical stuff – he can forge his own path.. the self-preservation stuff, I need to step in and tell him where the bear shit in the buckwheat. Not gonna fuck around when it comes to the safety of my son. If I didn’t tell him the straight up truth, I would be remiss as a parent…