Parents Asleep at the Wheel

While MTV sinks to a new low (remember when it was a music channel?), it seems many parents are asleep at the wheel these days. Christians strive to repress sexuality by not talking about it or ignoring these things.

Christians seem to think themselves immune from cultural influences and allow subversive poison into their homes. While I would be thought weird or shocking for allowing occasional home nudity with my children, no one seems to bat an eye to their six-year-olds parroting “I’m Sexy and I know It“, or at what I saw the other day; a boy probably barely 14 whose voice hadn’t even broken yet, attempting to rap:

Pussy so wet you think it just got off the log ride
And when I do my thing she be screamin’ “you the king”
Inside her so much she nicknamed me Nuva Ring

There is a well-known, reputable Catholic boys’ high school nearby and I am quite certain that is where this kid came from. And can I just add that unless you’re the Beastie Boys or Eminem, if you’re white, please stop rapping! ::cringe:: The absurdity of this kid aping this crap, who likely hasn’t been anywhere near a pussy since he was born from his mother, just makes me sad. Before he’s likely even kissed a girl, this is what is in his head. What kind of adult would steal these things from children for profit?

MTV’s Lose Your Virginity “reality” show is not even shocking, but simply disgraceful and sad. Increasingly in this culture, the best thing anyone can do for one’s children is to throw out the TV and homeschool them. There are many people filling the pews dutifully every Sunday who are asleep at the wheel; they are shirking their sacred duty to their children, buying into the culture that hates them, that hates God, that loves nothing more than to see their daughters “give up their V-card” for cheap entertainment and their sons rap disgusting “lyrics” put down by some witless, talentless schmuck. But who is the real schmuck here?

Sleep Naked! Live Naked!

I don’t know the numbers but it’s a fair bet that, as with just about everything else simple and natural, North Americans are more uptight about nudity in general than Europeans. How many husbands and wives go to bed every night fully clothed?

Women especially seem to ‘feel the cold’ more and complain about a cold bed like the princess with the pea under her mattress(es). I rather like getting into a cold bed and warming it up – all the better if I’m not the only one warming it up – but then, I also hate sleeping in a too-warm room and open my windows a crack even in the dead of winter.

I think it is healthier to have fresh air and not to be so warm at night – it’s unnatural, at least for northerners (my negligible Romany blood notwithstanding) – as that induces an almost coma-like sleep that I find leaves me fuzzy the next morning. It’s also a lot more comfortable not to have clothing getting bunched up and twisted all night. But besides that, in a marriage there are definite benefits to sleeping naked. For one thing, it’s a lot of skin-to-skin time, which builds oxytocin response, which builds the relationship at a foundational level, oxytocin being the ‘love-comfort hormone’.

It also allows for the higher likelihood of regular sexual intercourse rather than avoidance or simply following the path of least resistance. There’s more shared body heat for you cold people too, so there goes that excuse. Skin to skin contact reduces stress – look how much ‘kangaroo care’ does for premature infants. Why shouldn’t there be a similar response in adults?

Biologically, we don’t change that much – adults still need hugs, adults still get a lot out of skin contact, so why would we deprive ourselves of such a simple, no-work way of reducing stress? Co-sleeping babies bond with their parents better for the same reasons and they have a lower incidence of SIDS (it wasn’t previously known as ‘crib death’ for nothing) and mothers are more attuned to their babies. The combination of co-sleeping and breastfeeding reduces the severity of post-partum depression.

I would posit that it’s not only the breastfeeding that raises a baby’s IQ, as commonly stated, but also the close contact with the mother in those early months as well as the fact that the mother is not so out of whack, depressed and exhausted. Could the cultural push for mothers to return to work as little as 6 weeks after giving birth (barely even time to recover physically from a normal, natural birth) be part of the effort at dumbing us down?

Our physiological responses are complex. Even the mere sight of a nude person can induce a relaxation response and men experience lower blood pressure from looking at women’s breasts (and it’s not just because the blood goes elsewhere!) We are supposed to be generous with our bodies when it comes to marriage, and going to bed almost fully clothed and burrowing under two blankets doesn’t seem very generous.

People often have an irrational paranoia about children seeing their parents naked, so this often ends up being a ‘reason’ not to go naked even in bed.  If husband and wife sleep naked, the kids will assume that is normal and then it also provides an example of what they should do in marriage, which will promote closeness and intimacy in their future marriages. Kids who grow up with normal, natural, non-sexualised nudity tend to have a healthier self-image as well as a healthier attitude toward sex and relationships.

This is the antidote to a pornified culture and mass media brainwashing.

So, be counter-cultural and get naked!

Hole Digging Rules

Dalrock’s first rule of holes: Stop digging.

7man’s zeroth rule of holes: Don’t dig one in the first place!

CL’s second rule of holes: Don’t dig a bigger hole/more holes while trying to fill in the first one.

CLD1′s third rule of holes: If you’re going to dig yourself into a hole, make sure you pack a lunch.

When people get into a spot of bother in a discussion, they will often use whatever means necessary to avoid admitting error in very predictable ways. These hole behaviors are easily evident on the blogs, and captured for all to see. Once learning to see this, it is easier to see those that adeptly avoid or extricate themselves before irritations become kerfuffles and then flame wars.

7man: For those that do not understand the analogy, this post is about how many people make lame arguments (dig holes) and then use all kinds of means and contrivances to attempt to dig themselves out of the hole they dug by continuing to dig.

We were discussing this phenomenon and 7man thought of a prequel rule to Dalrock’s FIRST rule. So 7man called it the ZEROTH rule. This was established in a personal exchange and then CL mentioned it in a comment. During a conversation a couple of days later, while discussing comments on Dalrock’s blog, 7man encouraged CL to offer her own observation as the SECOND rule. Dalrock had a humorous comment about this: “Outstanding diplomacy CL. You managed to place both of us in first place, yet with 7Man in front (as it should be). I’m impressed.”

To be honest, we both chuckled at that because CL got all credit and she was complimented. (This actually happens quite often; where one of us is noticed for something the other has caused.) It is fun to be a team and delight in the little accolades the other receives. We don’t compete with each other (but it is rampant in many relationships). We both owe much to the each other for what we accomplish because it is so much more than we could individually do separately.

A couple of days ago, when briefly explaining the dynamics of digging holes to CL’s eldest (8yo) daughter (CLD1), we encouraged her to come up with her own rule and told her that she could have the THIRD rule. Hers is a good observation and confirms the saying “Out of the mouths of babes….”

 

Feel free to suggest other rules to add to this list.