Parenting rules?

[Little lunch]

I would be pissed if another parent assumed my kids were religious and tried discussing religion with them. And that's the problem with the religious. They assume everyone believes in god,  so they don't hesitate to inject their thoughts about god onto any other person they see. That makes them dangerous in the fact that if they freely talk about god with an adult,  they'll do it to kids. Even those not their own.

One problem I've encountered is that the religious kids at school discuss religion with your kid/s.
They listen more intently to their peers.
But then again, I'm sure those kids parents are just as worried about my kid telling their kids that god's not real, along with Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy.

I've made friends with just two mothers at my daughter's school, one of them I work with, and they're both atheists.
All of our kids attend the same 'opt-out-of-religious-instruction' class and funnily enough they're among the brightest students at the school, all three doing homework of the grade above them.
You could say it's the disbelief they have in common that marks them as quite intelligent but I think it might be their genders. :-)

[Seraphina]

As far as friendships with my daughter's friend's parents, I'll give out my Facebook info before I give my phone #. But if the friends are coming over to visit or sleepover or we're taking a friend on an outing with us, then trading phone #s is a must.
I definitely wouldn't send the religious meme mom any atheist memes as that seems like ineffective communication but if the religious memes are bothering you, you could politely ask her to stop sending them. Maybe say they're taking up too much memory on your phone, then offer to be Facebook friends.

I'm low-ley atheist when it comes to my daughter's friends and their parents. I'll tell people that I'm not religious but people unfortunately tend to have viscerally negative reactions when they hear the "a" word. So I won't jeopardize my kid's friendships just because she happens to have an atheist mom. We don't live in the Bible Belt, thankfully, so that makes it a little easier.

-Teresa

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I would be concerned if that parent started pushing her religious beliefs on Losty's daughter. So maybe stepping in and saying something now would be a good idea.

You make a good point and as a parent I totally get it. Religion-pushers, though, are always going to be out there, unfortunately. When a religious nut shows up, I feel like I'm helping my own kid more by giving her the tools to skeptically swat them away herself. And those are useful skills to have when young, impressionable adults are no longer at home with mom or dad to step in for them.
Very young kids, of course, may need mom or dad to step in so your mileage may vary.

-Teresa

[Losty]

Thank you everyone for the advice. I’m still thinking about what I’m going to do.

[KevinM1]

Dunno how big of a deal coming out as an atheist would be in your area, but you could always lie and ask her to stop sending the memes because you're on a limited data plan and can't be wasting it on pointless texts and image downloads.

[Silver]

If I had a kid, I would be rather lenient.

[Little lunch]

If I had a kid, I would be rather lenient.

Caesarean?

[Bob Kelso]

Are you required to be “friends” with your kids’ friends’ parents??? I gave one mom my phone number because her daughter and mine are cheering together and she won’t stop sending me religious motivational memes. Halp!

My kids are still little (3-7) so I haven’t had to deal with this yet, and probably won’t for a while. You have my sympathies though. Send her a good Satanic motivational. I suggest this comic.

http://geekxgirls.com/article.php?ID=9785