[Osx-nutters] The separation of church and state.

[Charles Bennett]

On Dec 4, 2007, at 2:27 PM, Stefano Mori wrote:

>
> On 2007-Dec-04, at 19:12, Mark Smith wrote:
>
>> There is nothing other than crap in any of them that is unique to
>> them. They are by definition then, full of useless crap. They should
>> be dismissed.
>
>
> OK, here's a question: how do you teach morality to a 4 year old?

When your kids are 4 'Dad' still knows everything.

It's kind of amazing (and scary) how much you can shape their thinking.

Example.    We used to have a long commute from the farm to the school  
where my kids went and we would usually have the radio on.

I remember there being a news report of some shooting/beating  
(whatever) where a bunch of white guys had beaten a black kid in an  
incident that was obviously racial in nature.

My comment my kids was something to the effect.  "That is so wrong.   
How stupid does a person have to be to hate someone because of  
something so trivial as skin color." and then I proceeded to talk to  
them about melanin levels and migration to the north from Africa and  
vitamin D production etc.. (little kids are like sponges for this stuff)

So.  I made an unequivocal judgment "that is wrong" and then proceeded  
to tell them why.  That sort of thing sticks with kids.
At that age, if "Dad" pronounces something as bad/wrong then it is,  
period.

Anyway, my kids are now 16 and 18 and  If you look at the group of  
people that my kids have for friends, it's obvious that skin color is  
irrelevant to them.

  My work on race issues is 'done'.

That's how you teach 4 year olds morality.  You simply tell them what  
is right or wrong when a learning opportunity presents itself and use  
examples they can understand.

They are not ready to handle gray areas at that age, but you can set  
the stage for them, with a simple comment here and there.

=c=