Quote:
You won't tell him that you're not about to speak of those things because you want him to make his own mind up? After all, if you don't give him a foundation on which to grow, somebody else will. So when he listens to you, of course he takes on your values. And this is as it should be.
True, but I don't see that as a "responsibility", per se.
Like I said, I have a responsibility to teach my son ethics and morals. Don't lie, steal, share your toys but don't let people walk all over you, clean your room before you play, etc. Things to make him a decent human being. If he grows up a liar, thief and a lay-about, I'd have to at least wonder if I failed him. Now if he grows up a Republican, it's not as if I'd feel the need to wring my hands and wonder where I went wrong, despite my own leanings.
I see it more as a responsibility to teach him to listen to people, learn there's multiple sides to an issue and to make his own informed choices. Then when he says his teacher told him such-and-so, I don't have to start crying at the mental rape of my child and the abuses of his education.
Edited, Tue Mar 2 14:20:38 2004 by Jophiel