Follow up to February 19, 2006 Show

A follow up to the show topic from Sunday night:

The Background:

David Parker's five year old son came home from school from Estabrook Elementary School in Lexington, Massachusetts with a broad array of materials meant to promote diversity acceptance. As part of that packet was a book entitled, Who's in a Family? The book is described by Publishers Weekly as "Beginning with a traditional nuclear family and ending with blank spaces in which the child reader is instructed to 'draw a picture of your family,' this...book catalogues multicultural contemporary family units, including those with single parents, lesbian and gay parents, mixed-race couples, grandparents and divorced parents." I interviewed David Parker on the show. David claims that the school should employ parental notification with regards to such material. The school claims they notified parents. David Claims he wouldn't allow his child to view this book, but he would if they took out the same sex parents and left the mixed-racial couples and single mothers in there.

My View On This:

I believe parental notification should be made on handing out this material. I also believe it is a parents' right to reject this material for their child. If a parent were to do this, I would label that unfortunate. I would not however advocate taking away this right from the parent. If I had children, I would want them to receive this information. I believe it is not to early to start teaching tolerance and diversity to children at age five. I also believe this book only teaches the existence of different family structures which exist in this world. It is not teaching children to be gay.

The Last Caller Of The Evening:

Steve from Parker, Colorado said that he thought it was wrong to give out this book, and then added that he believed that what happened to Matthew Shepard was justified. Matthew Shepard, in case you weren't aware, was the Wyoming boy who was beaten to death because he was gay. After telling Steve from Parker he was a "sick piece of crap" and never to call again, time was up and the show was over. But it occurred to me as soon as I shut off my microphone: This is exactly the reason this book should be given out. Otherwise we'll have more people turn out like Steve from Parker, Colorado.