Keep It Sensible

“You don’t have to give up all your perspectives, opinions, and thoughts on child-rearing. You don’t have to assume that everyone who criticizes your parenting is right. They might not be; they might be as self-deceived as you have sometimes been. But you do have to budget for that possibility. You must surrender the point to God in principle. The key to being a sensible parent is to be a sensible person.”

Keep Your Kids, p. 14

Sentimental and Cruel

“We’ve gotten to the point where surgeons can operate on and chemically castrate children. We can have mastectomies for teen girls and genital mutilation for the boys. And why? Because if we don’t, we might hurt somebody’s feelings. We are simultaneously sentimental and cruel . . . There is no way to bridge this gap by negotiations, but discussion, by trying to be winsome. You can’t. You can’t apologize your way into a good relationship with people who are on the other side of this chasm.”

Keep Your Kids, pp. 8-9