Much needed advice. I need more atheist friends.

[dangSHAYNAdang]

Oh he'll have trouble alright. He will make all sorts of mistakes, get caught up in all sorts of weird shit and break your heart several times along the way.

But thats how we form our character isn't it. Through trials and tribulations. We try to protect them of course, but you have to know, we will fail. And in some ways its good that we do so, because if we DID manage to protect our children from the world when they were kids we would rob them of that most essential of all attributes, the ability to fall and pick ourselves up.

Thats how I keep myself sane at least!

You are absolutely right. That is the main reason I would not home school. He needs to be exposed to the battles of life.
He also needs social interaction, from all walks of life. I do trust in myself though, that I will never allow him to fall too hard.

---

You can call me "Min," dear. As in the avatar, Min was the ancient Egyptian god of turquoise....or something.

Haha. Well, Min, turquoise happens to be my favorite color.
You may call me Shayna, since it is my birth name, and I'm quite fond of it.

[Captain Colostomy]

You are under no obligation to voice your opinions/thoughts, etc. aloud if you don't want to. Likewise, if you think it best, voice away. Maybe someone here can correct the source of the (mis)quote, (Ricky Gervais?) "Offense can't be given...only taken". Basically, stating your lack of religious beliefs is hardly an offense, in and of itself. It's how the listener decides to perceive it that is the problem...for them. Why let fairy tale followers shame you into silence? They sure as shit are vocal bastards...on the street, at work, in the ballot booth....

As for your son, Jacob nailed it, methinks. Kids are wildcards...but a child raised to think for him/her self is best prepared to make informed decisions. As parents, we can guide them best we can...but that's all we can(and should!) do. Schooling, both it's pros and cons, is a thorny subject, but with loving parents nearby I wouldn't worry too much. Your son will be fine. (Handsome little guy, BTW!)

Welcome to AF!

[dangSHAYNAdang]

You are under no obligation to voice your opinions/thoughts, etc. aloud if you don't want to. Likewise, if you think it best, voice away. Maybe someone here can correct the source of the (mis)quote, (Ricky Gervais?) "Offense can't be given...only taken". Basically, stating your lack of religious beliefs is hardly an offense, in and of itself. It's how the listener decides to perceive it that is the problem...for them. Why let fairy tale followers shame you into silence? They sure as shit are vocal bastards...on the street, at work, in the ballot booth....

As for your son, Jacob nailed it, methinks. Kids are wildcards...but a child raised to think for him/her self is best prepared to make informed decisions. As parents, we can guide them best we can...but that's all we can(and should!) do. Schooling, both it's pros and cons, is a thorny subject, but with loving parents nearby I wouldn't worry too much. Your son will be fine. (Handsome little guy, BTW!)

Welcome to AF!

Thank you! :D
Such great opinions. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing and reading more on this site.

[Angrboda]

This may sound an odd thing to say, but perhaps you should have faith that your son will find his way to your truth in the end. You managed to work through your conditioning and and I suspect you are a better, stronger more balanced person for it.....

This is a nice pie in the sky sentiment, but the fact of the matter is that the most reliable indicator of what religious choice a child will make is the mainstream view of the culture they are raised in. Parents can counteract that, but the culture still has a massive influence. If this child were being raised in a conservative section of Mother India where they basically taught Islam or some form of Krsna worship, unofficially, I'd be very concerned. And it has nothing to do with the fact that I'm a different flavor of religious person. These people pushing Jesus in government and schools aren't doing it for their health. Figures compiled by Christians indicate that the bulk of conversions occur between the ages of 4 and 14. If you're raised in a conservative Christian community, odds are that you likely will become a conservative Christian as an adult.

Since she doesn't say which part of Louisiana, it's hard to say more. Much of Louisiana is just empty, devoid of population, so resources are going to be scarce. I believe Baton Rouge has an atheist meetup.com group. And if there are Unitarian Universalist churches in your community, some are very secular, some are less so, but they tend (here) to be a lot more religiously neutral and encourage exploration of alternative spiritual values, as well as being family friendly. If you find a secular one, you might get help figuring out what to do from them.

(ETA: teaearlgreyhot was home schooled, and he appears to have turned out more than all right. Matter of fact, he's awesome.)

[dangSHAYNAdang]

Since she doesn't say which part of Louisiana, it's hard to say more. Much of Louisiana is just empty, devoid of population, so resources are going to be scarce. I believe Baton Rouge has an atheist meetup.com group.

I live about 3 hours south east from Baton Rouge. It would be nice to have something like that to attend around here.
You are right about Christians here being more excepting to less religious folks. Most, if not all, are hypocritical sheep in denial. It is still looked down upon though.
There are churches on every damn corner it seems. And not just small ones either... There are billboards for most of the huge churches too. Southern States are pretty damn ridiculous with the whole Jesus thing.
I'm not bashing on the home schooled. Lol. A couple of my close friends are home schooled. They're a bit odd. But great non the less. Regardless, financially, I do not have the means to do so with my son or future children.
I'm hoping that my son is an easy going child who lives and rationalize with common sense. I will always be there to help him.

[Ksa]

I live about 3 hours south east from Baton Rouge. It would be nice to have something like that to attend around here.
You are right about Christians here being more excepting to less religious folks. Most, if not all, are hypocritical sheep in denial. It is still looked down upon though.
There are churches on every damn corner it seems. And not just small ones either... There are billboards for most of the huge churches too. Southern States are pretty damn ridiculous with the whole Jesus thing.
I'm not bashing on the home schooled. Lol. A couple of my close friends are home schooled. They're a bit odd. But great non the less. Regardless, financially, I do not have the means to do so with my son or future children.
I'm hoping that my son is an easy going child who lives and rationalize with common sense. I will always be there to help him.

Parents like you complain about having to explain to their children what sex is and how they came into this world. In my opinion, this is an easy task where you can turn to science and exceed in your wisdom, and the child will be happy.

However, when it comes to explaining to the child that, like every other human being, he was born sentenced to death, that's the tricky part. "mother, why do people die, and, will I die too?".

All of a sudden, science no longer cuts it. It just doesn't. WHY? Because the child will ask you, if his days are counted, why go to school? Why struggle? Towards what end? And it's a legitimate question. You are asking the child to sacrifice 20% of his life going to school, rather than playing in the yard and enjoying his minuscule life span just like any other creature on Earth.

The mother then says, if you don't go to school, you will be a nobody. Child replies, Al Pacino and John Travolta never finished high-school and they are more important people then you mom with a P.HD in God knows what. Then the mother tells the child, you have to go to school because everyone else goes there, child replies, am I a lamb?

If you want to answer this question accurately, you have to tell the child what weird species he's born into because the child has no clue what shit he's gotten himself into. To do that, tell him this Mayan story:

“And a man sat alone
drenched in deep sadness.
And all the animals drew near to him and said:
We do not like to see you so sad…
Ask us for whatever you wish and you shall have it.
The man said:
I want to have good sight.
The vulture replied:
You shall have mine.
The man said:
I want to be strong.
The jaguar replied:
You shall be strong like me.
The man said:
I long to learn the secrets of the earth.
The serpent replied:
I will show them to you.
And so it went with all of the animals.
And when the man had all the gifts that they could give…..he left.
Then the owl said to the other animals:
Now the man knows much and is able to do many things….Suddenly I am scared.
The deer said:
The man has all that he needs now his sadness will stop..
But the owl replied :
No….I saw a hole in the man…deep like a hunger he will never fill.
It is what makes him sad and what makes him want.
He will go on taking and taking….
Until one day the world will say: I am no more and I have nothing left to give.”

You tell the child that there's a hole in him. That playing in the yard will get boring and suddenly, he will become sad. He will want more, and going to school is required for him to be able to get more and fill his hole that has no bottom, that only death is able to fill entirely. I believe the problem originates from the difference between what our reason wants us to do and what our physical body was programmed to do. The truth is we operate on some pretty outdated hardware. Our progress was...a total surprise.

But of course, unless you want the child to become suicidal, you will tell the child that once you die you go to Heaven, so during this life, you must sacrifice, struggle, strive and do good deeds so that finally when you die, you get to do what you should have kept on doing when you were 6. Otherwise, sacrificing most of your life towards questionable endings will seem idiotic even to a 6 year old. Or, you can read my next post.

[dangSHAYNAdang]

Parents like you complain about having to explain to their children what sex is and how they came into this world. In my opinion, this is an easy task where you can turn to science and exceed in your wisdom, and the child will be happy.

However, when it comes to explaining to the child that, like every other human being, he was born sentenced to death, that's the tricky part. "mother, why do people die, and, will I die too?".

All of a sudden, science no longer cuts it. It just doesn't. WHY? Because the child will ask you, if his days are counted, why go to school? Why struggle? Towards what end? And it's a legitimate question. You are asking the child to sacrifice 20% of his life going to school, rather than playing in the yard and enjoying his minuscule life span just like any other creature on Earth.

Judging by the first sentence, you seem to think you know me, or for that matter, what "type" of mother I am. That is where you went wrong.
Followed by the rest of the sarcastic horse shit you posted.
Thanks, but no thanks. I'll pass on what ever diluted hogwash you seem to be trying to get across.

[Ksa]

[quote='dangSHAYNAdang' pid='568073' dateline='1387755602']

Judging by the first sentence, you seem to think you know me, or for that matter, what "type" of mother I am. That is where you went wrong.
Followed by the rest of the sarcastic horse shit you posted.
Thanks, but no thanks. I'll pass on what ever diluted hogwash you seem to be trying to get across.

I did not know you, but now I do. Welcome to the forums

[dangSHAYNAdang]

[quote='dangSHAYNAdang' pid='568073' dateline='1387755602']

Judging by the first sentence, you seem to think you know me, or for that matter, what "type" of mother I am. That is where you went wrong.
Followed by the rest of the sarcastic horse shit you posted.
Thanks, but no thanks. I'll pass on what ever diluted hogwash you seem to be trying to get across.

I did not know you, but now I do. Welcome to the forums :)

Ahhh, Atheists. What ass holes we can be.
:P

[Ksa]

I did not know you, but now I do. Welcome to the forums

Ahhh, Atheists. What ass holes we can be.

Atheists have a difficult mission, because when you remove religion, a big gap is left. An existential gap. Children don't have the necessary wisdom to fill the gap entirely, so they look towards you to fill it. It is a great responsibility that cannot be dodged. You chose the hard way, so you have to be ready.

I would make it sound like an exciting challenge, saying: "Honey, every human being wants to become immortal through scientific advances. Make no mistake, every human so far ended up dead, giving their lives towards progress and scientific advances, but where they have failed, you will succeed."

It is the truth, and justifies everything, going to school, struggling etc.

Better then some bullshit Adam and Eve story lol. Read the rest of my previous post and you will understand what I mean. Parents like you are not you, they are parents in your SITUATION. You mistook SITUATION for BELIEFS. You thought I meant parents who believe like you.