Did you ever have the feeling that you don’t fit well with today’s culture? I’m not just talking about the obvious problems of immorality and cultural decay around us. I’m referring to even little, day to day things.

My husband and I have often talked about how much we don’t seem to fit in the current era. Our values and preferences so often seem to go back to another time. I made a list today of the ways my beliefs are so different with current views and practices in a variety of areas. I have figured out that despite all of the technology that I use daily, and all of the advances around me, I am still very much an old-fashioned “girl.” These are my preferences, and I am not claiming that these preferences are any better than others. It’s just who I am.

I think little ones benefit more from being read Beatrix Potter and A.A. Milne than watching Barney or Sesame Street.

I think babies are more beautiful when dressed like babies and not mini-teenagers.

I think that what is considered the female body ideal today is freakish. The Lord gave women curves naturally and not the frames of adolescent boys.

I think that children should allow their elders to go in line first at family gatherings to learn respect for age.

I believe children can and should be taught to sit in an orderly manner in church from the very youngest years.

I don’t believe in time outs for rebellious toddlers.

I believe in dressing with respect for the worship of the Lord. Church is not an extension of our family rooms.

I think that children are harmed by the mouthy, disrespectful and worldly behavior displayed on the Disney Channel.

I think children should be taught that libraries are exciting places. I’m not talking about the DVD aisle or computer section, either.

I think that parents are wrong in believing that their children need them less in the adolescent years. I believe parental availability and interest, and the providing of regular meals and an orderly home is even more critical in these years, as life decisions are being made.

I think the constant use of even innocent video games harms children’s intellects.They should be playing and using their own imaginations, and

I think that raising children on a steady diet of pop music destroys their ability to concentrate and to think deeply.

I think the great music of Western civilization helps develop the minds and souls of children.

I think that the great hymns of the Faith are the neglected inheritance of every Christian child. Those hymns, baptized in the blood and tears of centuries of Christianity, are our familial legacy of infinite worth.

I think I could go on and on for pages, but will stop here. No, my husband and I don’t fit in very well with the current age. But I am thankful that, for now, we have the freedom to teach our children, and to live, as we see fit. If we’re accused of being old-fashioned, we’ll plead guilty. It isn’t that the old ways are always better, but that most of the good of the past has been abandoned completely by today’s generation. Those of us who still have appreciation for the old ways that worked will have to band together. There aren’t very many of us!

signing off now.....

Yaddy