Parenting Advice Blog gets a parenting advice about believing in Bigfoot
Moms & Dads is a South Florida blog about parents sharing their stories and advice. Today's topic was about the author's 9 year old daughter and her belief in Bigfoot after watching a Bigfoot show on TV. As usual, this "intelligent" author dismisses the possibility of a North American primate and ties it to UFOs sightings and Nigerian email scams.
"I'm going to have to sit down with her and chat. It might be too late to tell her that UFOs aren't real, emails from Nigeria should be ignored and there never was a babysitter who got a call from a man who said "I'm calling from inside the house.'" the author said.
Things I forgot to teach my child
By Brittany Wallman July 5, 2011 11:09 AM
When you have two kids and a full-time job, it's easy to forget to tell your child that Bigfoot doesn't really exist.
Our daughter is 9. We spend a lot of time parenting her brother, the teenager, because he presents one parenting quandry after another.
We sort of assume that she will learn in school a lot of the basics, like the fact that the earth is not flat and the moon is not made of cheese. And we're teaching her the big moral issues, the character issues.
Who was supposed to teach her about Sasquatch?
A Bigfoot-watching show was on TV last night, and that's when we found out that Lily is a believer. My husband called me in to the living room to tell me. And Lily said, "No, I don't think. I know!''
I'm going to have to sit down with her and chat. It might be too late to tell her that UFOs aren't real, emails from Nigeria should be ignored and there never was a babysitter who got a call from a man who said "I'm calling from inside the house.''
What else have I forgotten to tell her, I wonder!
A reader saw the article and sent her an intelligent reply which we agree with very much.
John · Loveland, ColoradoSource: blogs.trb.com
Brittany, you must have known the comments this might unleash. While not maligning your capabilities as a mother, it is the height of ignorance and arrogance to tell your child something doesn't exist when it not only might, but does.
People of high intelligence, sober disposition, 20-20 vision and unimpeachable character have seen things that are simply unexplainable -as yet- by modern science. It's very easy to sit in your pajamas, sipping a latte, and rattle off this dismissive blog post without experiencing these things first hand, while simultaneously insulting those who have.
One of the most humiliating emotions humans can experience is fear of ridicule by our peers, which is why most people don't advertise their sightings of strange phenomenon. That doesn't mean they don't happen. By teaching your child these things don't exist you are both devaluing her opinions and stunting her sense of wonder. My 3 children are grown and although they don't follow any way-out fringe theories, they accept the possibility -and probability- of things that we just haven't discovered yet. Give your child that time to develop that sense of wonder before you close it down forever.
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