I appreciate the response, it wasn’t meant to be a gotcha or prying question by any means.
You saying you weren’t for or against it in schools and would go whichever way the wind blew was surprising and in your response:
I generally agree with this and I have a hard time squaring that with you being ambivalent about providing that perspective to children in schools. There is a line to what a school can and should teach children about, but I think a critical look at American history (concerning race or anything else) falls squarely inbounds. If it’s valuable to your children it must be valuable to all children and not everyone’s parents will have the capacity or the interest in giving them that critical perspective.
As for me personally, I do have two daughters. One is 3 years old and the other is 1 month so the way I handle these things is more theoretical based on my own bullshit than real application my wife and I have put into practice. That said my 3yo’s room is filled with children’s books that have a decidedly political slant.
I don’t think I’ll ever make a conscious choice to avoid hot-button issues or politics in the house. Mostly the opposite. Hopefully they have an interest and I can push them on things and they’ll push back on my bullshit when advocating for their own beliefs. (This is probably where people with older kids are laughing at how naive I am). Indoctrination isn’t something I have any interest in either.
I appreciate the desire to de-emphasize politics and the state at home but in my opinion being comfortable making that decision for your family is privilege. I have two daughters and my wife immigrated here from Iran as a child. I’m not sure if that is a privilege I can afford my family and I don’t think I would want to if I could. That doesn’t have to mean cable news and the national outrage story of the week though. Being involved on a state and municipal level is something we have talked a lot about instilling in the girls.
Like you, I’m making this shit up as I go. I’m not at all confident in even small parenting decisions, let alone the large ones. A lot of times parents seem to be reacting to the way that they were raised, and I was raised pretty sheltered and very privileged. So I guess if I’m going to make mistakes it will be erring on the side of making sure my daughters aren’t naive to the world, for better or worse.