Let Us Do That For You

If being a stay-at-home mom to raise your own children is such a demeaning, unfulfilling, and unimportant job, then why is our government so eager to take it over for us? I will tell you why.

Because the sooner they can get their hands on your children’s minds and hearts, the sooner they can shape their thinking and mess with their faith. Everyone knows (whether they admit it or not) that the mother has the most important job in the world: bringing up the children God has given her. The hireling does not care for the sheep the way the shepherd does. The shepherd lays down his life for the sheep just like a mother will lay down her life for her children all day long. The hireling does not and cannot love the sheep the way the shepherd does (John 10:11-13).

Apparently K-12 is just not enough time for the government to indoctrinate the kids, so the push is to get a hold of them sooner. It sounds so thoughtful: let us take care of the little ones while you go find something productive to do. Something with a paycheck. But it turns out the children are the ones who actually pay the heavy cost of government-run day care.

Twenty years ago, or so, at a very exciting town meeting that was full of liberal activists, an angry lesbian shouted at a group of us Christians, “Ten years and your children are ours!” I remember thinking at the time, “Not our kids.” But the tragedy is that so many kids have been won over. It is a strategy that has worked all too well. The “free” education of the government school system has been the means they have used so effectively, even with Christian kids. But if they can get them enrolled as babies or toddlers, so much the better.

Mothers, you are irreplaceable. There is no substitute on earth for what you can give your children. Teach them. Pray with and for them. Feed them. Love them. Read to them. Discipline them. Wash them. Wipe their noses. Change their diapers. Fold their clothes. Make them cookies. Decorate their birthday cakes. Stuff their Christmas stockings. Tell them stories. And when they are old enough for a formal education, make certain that it is “in the Lord” and not a secular education. Whether it is by means of homeschooling, or private Christian education, your children must receive a thoroughly Christian education, start to finish. This should be a non-negotiable. And once you are started, don’t stop until you are finished. Don’t get your children reading and writing and then hand them off to the state to “educate.” They will.  Sadly, many Christian parents take the pains to home school until high school, and then right at the moment when their kids are ready to learn how to apply a Christian worldview to all of life, their parents send them to the government school to finish the job.

This little booklet pictured above is one my husband wrote for Athanasius Press. It is only $5.00 at Canon Press, but I will happily give away ten copies. If you would like one, leave a comment, and I’ll send it off to the first ten of you.