Proclamation Month

Be proactive in shaping your children's minds and hearts

I have young children, and therefore have to figure out how to answer the rainbow question. 

“Mom, why do those people have a rainbow flag on their house?” Of course she notices everything.

I punted: “Some people just really like rainbows because they’re pretty, and they remind us God loves us.” That’ll do for now.

But not for long, because Pride Season is upon us (Rod Dreher called it “Woke Ramadan” which is sadly hilarious). You can’t take your kids to a Target or a Dodgers game or Disneyland without having to do some Serious Discussion of Big Issues to help them contextualize what they’re seeing.

Does Serious Discussion of Big Issues work with an autistic preschooler, let alone most small kids?

I fear not, which is the whole point. Why are the Pride Evangelists pushing so hard to colonize public spaces and children’s events? Because if they can hijack kids’ developing worldview they’ve already won the battle. If evangelists plant the idea that sex is fluid and customizable, that mommies and daddies are interchangeable, that disagreement is MEAN because LOVE WINS, parents will forever after be playing defense, trying to catch up, trying to counter-program.

As I wrote last year:

“Three decades ago, I never came away from watching Saturday morning cartoons wondering why some kids have two mommies or Jack became Jill. It was normative, and utterly pervasive, that a family starts with a man and a woman; biological sex was obviously unchanging. I never heard that our core doctrines are painful to an already oppressed minority…

“No child in the western world today has that luxury. Even children of committed, believing Christians don’t have that luxury. Today’s children’s worldviews must be purposefully shaped, or else they will simply adopt the surrounding views that are most popular, possibly grafting them awkwardly onto the gospel, or possibly rejecting the gospel altogether. We have to carefully teach our children that gender and sex are eternal and precious, not malleable and oppressive.”

Some excellent and faithful Christians, led by the magnificent Robert George, propose we answer Pride Month with Fidelity Month. He suggests we spend the month intentionally focusing on “the importance of fidelity to God, spouses and families, our country, and our communities.” I think that’s a wonderful idea, and I intend to do it.

But because I have young children, I intend to do more as well.

There’s no reason to restrict it to a single month, and I won’t, but I’m going to channel my frustration over Pride Month. The walls are closing in on which public spaces I can take my children to, but I’m not going to just wait to counter whatever they see. I’m going to be proactive, purposely shaping their worldview so there’s no room for the false doctrines to take root.

So I’m not proclaiming it to my kids, because keeping it seamless is better, but in my mind Pride Month is going to be Proclamation Month. We’re going to read the Proclamation on the Family more often, discuss it more, and especially bear testimony of how we know it’s true and are grateful it teaches us how to have joy. There are so many bite-size principles that children can latch on to and really love: every baby needs a mommy and a daddy. It is important and special to be a boy or a girl, and you were a boy or a girl in Heaven even before you were born. Preparing to be a mommy or a daddy one day is wonderful and important. Heavenly Father’s plan is for everyone to get married and have babies so they can be a family together forever.

June is also going to be Follow the Prophet month. I don't want my kids to think of sexuality and cross-dressing whenever they see rainbows. In scripture, the rainbow doesn’t just symbolize God’s love after the flood. It also meant hope and endurance to those who followed the prophet Noah.

I’m not awesome at graphic design, but I like this well enough to print it out for my kids. Feel free to use and share if you want:

Here’s a more subtle version:

We are enlisted in a serious battle for the hearts and minds of our children. Be proactive. Shape their environment. Curate their media. Talk to them often and at length so you know what’s going on in their cute little noggins, what they’re seeing and hearing and thinking. Recognize that your childhood was probably a totally different environment that shaped your worldview to be more easily accepting of important truths, and that won’t happen for your children unless you *make* it happen. Pray for help and revelation.

God be with you.