bringing up boys

Okay, where do I begin -- yes this was a good book -- however, what I walked away with had nothing to do with raising my son -- well maybe a little. It really had to do with my college education at Ball State before I was a Christian. Read on:

First - let me say I can not believe what I was taught and took for truth while I was there. Now let me preface to say I feel like I got a great education and because I was an older "non traditional" student I invested a lot into my studies and little into other "campus" activities. So here it is:

I was taught that we gender stereotype kids -- boys and girls -- by how we talk to them, the activities we engage in with them, the toys we buy them, and the colors and clothes we put them in from birth. WHOA -- God chose our gender and we can not "change" it by what we play with and the sports we are or are not involved in! Granted not all girls want to wear dresses - it is a personal preference sort of thing -- just as not all boys want to play sports. But it seems to me the mentality is that women feel "less" than men so they are fighting against it with this gender stereotyping thing. I personally believe women only feel "less" than men if they do not know who they are in Christ and that God created them "different" for a special purpose - and we are going against him when we try to be something so others will accept us and we will "feel" like we are just as important as a man. Now I believe, and I may be wrong, most of the people teaching me these concepts were not Christians at the time. Really this all came to me a couple of years ago while in my weekly MOTTTS bible study here in town but this book brought it all back.

Here is what I wonder: how would I have responded in that educational setting if I was a Christian? weren't there any Christians in the classes and major that struggled with this? why didn't they ever speak up in class and offer a challenging perspective?

So what I take away from this is --

• I can not believe how great my responsibility as a parent is -- to make sure the foundation in the bible my kids receive is strong - strong enough for them to have awesome filters to sort out what society is teaching them- as truth or lies!