Changing Your Child's Beliefs and the Law...

I have wondered (for some time now, in fact) just how much legal authority parents have to change their children's beliefs.

Think about it. What if you are a meat eater and your child wants to be a vegan? What if you are hawk and your child wants to be a pacifist? What if you are a Catholic and your child wants to be a Protestant? You get the picture.

I know in some locales, child insubordination is a crime. But will the state step in if your child won't accept your beliefs, political or moral? And how does the US Constitution come into play in cases like this?

Just wondering.

:love:☮:love:

 

Let them go vegan. Let them be a pacifist. Let them be a Protestant. Don't push your ideas onto your children. You should raise then in a neutral environment. Whether what your teaching them is good or bad, you should still let them use there minds, let then make choices. You should give them the freedom to to be vegan,pacifist , or Protestant.

This is what I think, but I don't know how the other hippies think about child indoctrination.

 

gee your right, the state probably needs more authority over what you teach your kids and not vice versa.

edit: for example in America, we're still being reminded that nothing we can ever, EVER do will pay back our debt to Black Americans for slavery. We owe them so much... we really do lol.

 

Let your kids form their own beliefs. If you give them access to books and information, then they will really be their own person. When I have a child, I'll teach them right from wrong. But as far as religion and politics go, I'll tell them to research it for themselves when they're old enough.

I can tell you from experience though, if religion isn't forced on you as a child, very rarely will you choose to adhere to one as an adult. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. There are too many brainwashed people in this country and not enough people thinking for themselves.

 

Yes let your kids form most of their own beliefs.

 

I consider some choices are personal, like what type of diet to choose, values, beliefs, lifestyles, etc. I know it's not everybody's case tho and some parents might try to push their vision of what's right on their kids despites their will. To me they're all allowed to raise their kids the way they want and try to share with them values that are important to them, but the child is also allowed to accept or reject said education according to what they agree with (and they should have the absolute last word on choices that directly imply and/or impact them). This is only my opinion tho, not sure about the law actually stands on those questions to be honest.

 

A lot of it just comes from being a role model and leading by example whatver your beliefs. Children will initially parrot their parent;s beliefs but eventually start to question and form their own ideas. That's the horrible period called "the teens".

Raising kids is a roller coaster ride. It's a lot of work but we're all just winging it.

 

If they have a STRONG MIND you wont change it.... They will stay believing/thinking the way they want to...

 

Spot-on

 

Forcing stuff on people usually makes them rebel..........

A friend of mine when he was growing up had ZERO RESTRICTIONS and as a result,he didnt feel the need to do things.... (Challenge any restrictions)

 

While I do not agree with parents forcing things on their children, parents have a responsibility to raise their children as decent law abiding citizens. Setting a good example is the easiest way.

 

First off, no person can change another's beliefs. To think so would violate human nature. You can persuade, you can and should require certain behaviour of your minor children, but you can't change how anyone thinks. And you can't read minds.

If your issue with your children is their behavior, that you should address. Which is completely different from their beliefs. One can believe stealing is acceptable under certain circumstances, for example, but as long as they're not stealing then they won't be facing charges,and you as the parent won't be responsible for restitution.

But all that precipitates from whether the parent was diligent at their duty to raise a respectable citizen. If we concern ourselves with bringing up our children to be respectful, considerate, thoughtful, productive contributors then their thoughts and beliefs are minimal concerns. If we instead let their peers instill values in them then the consequences could be severe. But if we've done our job to instill proper values in them and they stuck, yet have some differences of opinion, that's natural human behaviour, and our only duty is to discuss the differences, hear their side, explain why we believe the way we do, and leave it to them to sort out over time.

So, to "accept your beliefs, political or moral" is nothing the law or any person can have any control over. That has to be obvious. What you and the law can demand is a standard of behavior. It's about an inclination to do right by others.

 

From a legal standpoint, parents have quite a bit of authority over their children until they turn eighteen, after which it can be "our way or the highway". In the United States, the state will not step in if the child won't accept the parents' beliefs, since the First Amendment prohibits establishment of religion and mandates free exercise of religion. State involvement in family matters is generally discouraged except in cases of child abuse, which has never been extended to mere religious or political indoctrination.

Parental influence is more informal than legal, but is very powerful. About two-thirds of Americans retain the religion of their parents, religious upbringing being the single most important predictor of a child's religion in adulthood. Transmission of Religious and Social Values from Parents to Teenage Children on JSTOR There is a strong evolutionary basis for this; reliance on information from a trusted adult has survival value for humans. Of course, this parental influence tends to be reinforced by social conditioning from churches, to which the child is usually subjected by the parents. If the parents are of different religions, this tendency is significantly reduced, but the mother tends to be the biggest influence. It's the Moms Who Get Kids to Church But it doesn't always work. My parents were conservative Catholics and rock ribbed Republicans. It was kind of like being raised by Fox News. I began my religious education at the hands of nuns with rulers at age 5. I vividly remember Sister Lawrencia's lecture on original sin, with the outline of a human on the blackboard colored in to represent sin and then erased to show the power of baptism and God's grace. I'm a Progressive Methodist now, and from my posts on HF you may discern no longer a Republican. They overdid it!

 

Religious upbringing is an important predictor of a child's success in life. Born into privilege, some may say.

 

Despite my rejection of the particulars, I'm grateful to my parents and even the nuns with rulers for giving me moral guidance and discipline. They just overdid it a little.

 

No human has ANY control over another humans beliefs.

Parents DO have a responsibility to control a child's actions. Setting boundaries is important as well as teaching them to make good choices.