[lit-ideas] Re: kid camps & passion

 Hi,
I responded off-list to Julie as soon as I read her first post <g> as it 
disturbed me so much! (I'm at a conference in Chicago and so have been not able 
to read mail until today...)
 
What I basically said to her was that she was a much more 'forgiving' mom than 
I am <g>.  I would have called that camp up and fussed at them. I would have 
driven down and picked my child up. I would have called other parents of kids I 
knew attending and made sure that they knew that The Passion of Christ was 
being shown without *written* parental permission. (and, believe me, if a 
secular group had shown any sort of movie with that sort of gore, even if 
without any religious overtone to it, the parents of the kids who attended that 
camp would have been furious!)
 
and that was just in response to the movie issue. <g>
 
Julie and I do parent alot alike--but I fear that I am what my son and his 
friends all call me: Mother Bear Protecting the Young. (which works out well 
when they need protection--and they also get told and explained reasons why/why 
not for things to happen...which is [I think] Julie's method which is pretty 
grand and which I respect and try to model my parenting after...though our kids 
are slightly different so maybe we vary based on adapting to their 
personalities...)
 
Like Stan, I think if she *really* wanted to go to the camp for the G stuff, I 
think next time a deeper search for an inter-faith sort of camp would be what I 
would look for...and if it was because of the social relationships of her 
friends, I think I would have tried to see if any of them were going to a 
different sort of camp (there are, of course, zillions of them around...)  
 
It IS hard because that age group is into being more independent and wants to 
break away and be trusted...and it is hard when you can trust THEM but not the 
adults that are in their lives.
 
I can believe that there is a PG-13 version 'out there'. There ARE lots of 
people who have problems with the violence in the movie and though one surely 
is aware that Mel Gibson did the movie because of his personal beliefs, let's 
face it--the man also wanted to make $$ and there is another audience that will 
purchase the movie if there is a toning down of the violence...
 
Still in Chicago,
Marlena in Missouri
 
 
 
-----Original Message-----




 She's getting a "true believer's" perspective without any countervailing view 
to temper what she learns. 
 
If this were in school, I would hope it would be looking at the bible as 
literature. In a bible camp, I really don't think the teachers will be looking 
at the bible as literature. And you won't be there. If they brought parents 
together with their kids in a learning environment, that would be different. 
She'll be there alone without the intellectual tools or maturity to raise 
challenging questions and dare to openly dissent against what all the other 
kids will blindingly accept as gospel.
 
I would spend some time with your daughter now examining, analyzing, and 
discussing all the accepted wisdom she's ingested by herself.

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