(LifeSiteNews) — On this week’s episode of The Van Maren Show, Jonathon interviews Katy Faust, co-author of the new book Raising Conservative Kids in a Woke City: Teaching Historical, Economic, and Biological Truth in a World of Lies.
According to Faust, the book represents a “philosophy” shared by her and her co-author Stacy Manning about how they and their husbands raised their children in Seattle, one of the most woke cities in the United States. The philosophy is not new but “rediscovered,” says Faust, telling Jonathon that it represents “some recycled tried and true parenting principles applied to our current moment that has allowed collectively the seven children between our two families to stand firm.”
Laying out the philosophy expounded on in the book, Faust says that while there is no guarantee of success, parents must first and foremost establish themselves as an “authority” on different subjects that may arise in the life of their children, such as gender theory or abortion, no matter where their children go to school.
“You… need to get to your kids first,” she tells Jonathon. “Get this idea out of your head that if you don’t talk to them, they won’t know. The reality is somebody is going to talk to them and whoever talks to them, they will automatically consider [them] the expert on that subject and go back to that person for more information in the future.”
While Faust acknowledges that having early conversation with children about topics such as pornography and gender theory will be uncomfortable, she maintains that they can be conducted in a way that preserves the children’s innocence and “makes them wise.”
Discussing the book’s philosophy further, Faust explains how it applies to children in multiple stages of their development, from elementary school to high school. According to her, elementary school children should be saturated by the true, good and beautiful to “[hone] their straight stick,” whereby they can measure what is right and wrong, all while parents should “filter” as many distortions as they can.
She also explains that in her experience, parents can opt their children out of objectionable lessons, request that teachers not speak about a given topic with their children, and ask to see the curriculum to know what to address.
In middle school, Faust says that parents should introduce children to the distortions. “That is where you, the parent, drill down, not just give them a heads up that it’s coming. You did that in elementary school. Now you make them an expert on abortion and same sex marriage and transgenderism and socialism.”
By introducing the distortions, Faust tells Jonathon, children will be able to discern the true from the false according to what they already learned in elementary school. She also maintains that children should know more about the distorted topics than others, regardless of where they go to school, and not necessarily fight a falsehood, but simply spot it, speak about it at home, and then “go back and stand unflinchingly.”
In high school, Faust maintains that it is essential for parents to remain “connected” with their children to help them navigate the world while they learn to “stand firm on their own,” especially by offering emotional support and helping them discern which battles they should or should not fight.
Later in the interview, Faust lists several resources that parents can use to help their children. According to her, podcasts are a boon, as children will recognize that their parents listen to podcasts that deal with topics they may come across, associate the topic with the program and their parents, and make for easier conversation. She also advocates for allowing children to read what they are reading to help them grasp the issue.
“You don’t have to do a lot of newfangled things if you’re engaged in these topics,” Faust opines. “You just pull your kids into your world and they will also be engaged on these topics.”
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