As a mother of 4, I can definitely say there are FAR WORSE things our kids are exposed to on a daily basis as they attend school, far worse than listening to our current president recite a very non-political speech to encourage our kids to stay in school.

The parents who are so quick to pull their kids out of school are sending a terrible message to their own kids about what they think of them and their abilities to grow and learn and be young adults. As parents do we not want our kids to have their own minds? They are future adults who will need to think for themselves, are they not? Is this a time to regress back to the the sheltering "umbrella parent"  we eventually drifted away from as our child grew and became more confident of themselves??

To me the worse thing for a child to deal with at school is the stuff they face everyday. Peer pressure, bullies, harassment, drugs, and so on (not to mention Algebra class, ugh) We force our children to face these horrible things everyday, because we know it's all apart of growing up. When was the last time a parent kept a child home when the child was being bullied?? . Would you keep your child home if you knew this happening? would you go to the school and talk to someone right away or when it was too late? or would you say, "oh don't worry about it, no one will hurt you, just be tough and you'll be fine. " or "stand up for youself ."

I am really saddened that we live in a time when parents feel it's more imporant to protect a child from a political idea, or the fear of, than to protect them from the everyday dangers that school children face.

Honestly, our children are the strongest, quickest, and most resiliant creatures on this earth, and they are capable of listening to a speech without it harming them, capable of listening to ideas spoken briefly in a televised speech, and taking away with them what they chose to. If you trust  your children, which it sounds like many overreacting conservative parents don't, then you would know that what they learn for life is what they learn at home. Stop living in fear of what your children might take away from this, instead use this opportunity to talk openly with them, WITHOUT forcing political ideals on them, or what THEY heard at school will no longer be the speech they heard but YOUR words instead.

Words to live by:

Passing on morals is not the same as forcing ideals on children. Good morals will keep your child level-headed and strong in life, while forcing ideals on them will make them do things only to please you, even if they don't agree with it.