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Star Parker Founder & President, Center for Urban Renewal and Education
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Opinion

Conservative values are key to parenting

Star Parker Founder & President, Center for Urban Renewal and Education
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Parenting differences between liberal-leaning and conservative-leaning families abound. Religion, politics, speech, education philosophy, punishment practices, values, cultural customs, and manners all vary widely between U.S. households. These myriad differences eventually produce adult Americans with widely contrasting worldviews and identities.

Straight Arrow News contributor Star Parker reviews recent data to explain why conservative parenting practices are superior to liberal ones. She highlights differences in religious beliefs, church attendance, values and philosophical worldviews as the most impactful differences between liberal and conservative parenting styles.

And what’s more, alongside the data, it does not take much to understand how the differences in worldviews can determine the differences in happiness. Conservatives champion the individual, the self-reliance, self-accountability. So it’s a question of whether you are a victor or a victim.

Liberals believe profoundly in victimhood. It’s sad, but that’s what they tell their children. What child could be happy in that worldview? What hope do they have when you tell children that this is their future? What agency does that give them to take command of their own fate, and their work, and live a better future?

And we have broken home, no community, especially with the church. When you have no divine guidance, then that victimhood mentality is the only thing guiding your life. It’s the light of your life, and it’s depressing your life. Liberals are about what you’re living against. Conservatives are about what you’re living for.

The liberal Left has for far too long commanded the attention of our youth. Children don’t raise themselves, but if one worldview, one set of ideals, is leading to greater prosperity than the other — is leading to more happiness than the other — then why isn’t it clear which one we as a society should choose to promote?

We can see how the differences in worldviews are affecting our children right now. We need only look at our children to answer the political questions of today and how our decisions will impact the future of our country tomorrow. After all, the data proves which philosophy we should embrace if we really care about the mental health of our children, and the future of our country.

 

Here in Washington, DC ideas and policies are often championed as solutions that will not only make the world a better place, but will put us on a path to a greater future. And far too often, these arguments that are made for our future leave out one very crucial factor of our future, our children, none of us can predict the future. But children are the best indicator of what the world will become. The state of our children today will determine the state of our society tomorrow. If you look at what’s going on with our children, their reality can definitely guide us in how to operate in our politics and our policies that we’re expecting and doing today, specifically, the divide between conservative and liberal ideals. There’s a stark contrast in the worldview and the reality that our children want for their lives. There has been a alarming rise, for instance, in the mental health issues reported by children in the last decade, but this rise has been most profound among children raised in Liberal households. Last year, a study from Columbia University highlighted that left leaning children are experiencing a far greater increase in depression, when compared to their conservative peers. To begin to understand why there’s this difference in the data, you must first look to the differences between these households. Only 35% of liberals report being a member of a church. And according to Pew Research, 78% of conservatives are absolutely certain in their belief in God. For liberals, it’s less than half at 45%. marriage rates are starkly declined among liberals. And it’s happened for years now. According to the National Library of Medicine, Republicans are more likely to be married 67%, than Democrats at 47%. In their adult life, many children how many children are coming up in the single parent liberal households. And on top of that, according to what’s called the General Social Survey, conservatives are 12 percentage points more likely to be in happy marriages than are liberals. And what’s more, alongside the data, it does not take much to understand how the differences and worldviews can determine the differences in happiness. Conservatives, champion individual, the self reliance, self accountability. So it’s a question of whether you are a victor or victim. liberals believe profoundly in victimhood. It’s sad that that’s what they tell their children, what child could be happy in that worldview. What hope do they have when you tell children that this is their future? What agency does that gives them to take command of their own fate, and their work, and live a better future, and we have broken home, no community, especially with the church, when you have no divine guidance, then that victimhood mentality is the only thing guiding your life. It’s the light of your life, and it’s depressing your life. Liberals are about what you’re living against. Conservatives are about what you’re living for. The liberal left has for far too long commanded the attention of our youth. Children don’t raise themselves, but have one worldview, one set of ideals is leading to greater prosperity than the other. It was leading to more happiness than the other, then why isn’t it clear which one we as a society should choose to promote? We can see how the differences in worldviews are affecting our children right now. We need only look at our children to answer the political questions of today and how our decisions will impact the future of our country tomorrow. After all, the data proves which philosophy we should embrace if we really care about the mental health of our children, and the future of our country.

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