Kids + parents, don't listen to Mary W (on discipline) // gabby strahan

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I’m very purposely staying away from the gender related topics, thanks for noticing :)

First of all, I definitely wish I would have been alive to advocate a season of serious therapy for our poor Ms. Wollstonecraft. I predict that the reason she sounds so bitter when describing her opinions is because of the lengthy list of devastating trauma she witnessed during her lifetime. 

Again, her opinions are based on bitter feelings. So it's safe to say that because of this, some of her views regarding the issues she chose to write about in A Vindication of the Rights of Women are warped and tainted by these bitter feelings, induced by areas of hurt and disfunction in her life. I can just visualize her face increasingly becoming red with anger as her eyebrows crease, while she tensely writes with such attitude. LOL

Wollenstonecraft ridiculously and I might add foolishly describes the administering of disciple in a house setting as, “A slavish bondage that cramps every faculty of the mind” (160).

I disagree with the aspects of her stance on discipline and the roles of a home … that I can comprehend. Kids everywhere need to read the “duty of parents” portion of Wollstonecraft’s writing because they would be in complete support, I can hear them now… (NO MORE PUNISHMENTS!!!! WE CAN DO WHAT WE WANT) Which would lead to FURTHER rebellion and chaos in homes then there already is. So no thank you from me, I will pass. So then again, kids do not need to read it. 

Culture is beginning to act in accordance with Wollstonecraft’s views on the home, which is why the home dynamic is becoming more and more distorted. Children are being given the authority to make decisions for themselves that they are far too young to make, before they have the tools to make them properly. The home is intended to be obedient to scripture and scripture commands in Ephesians 6:1, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.” God’s intention for the home is for that setting to glorify Him through a parent’s discipline and a child’s obedience. God’s word doesn’t say Children, obey your parents if you agree or if you feel like it. It demands obedience with absolutely no hint of a gray area. It's very blatant. It is also written in Proverbs 22:6, “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” The initial years of growing up are intended for parents to train a child in love, but also in discipline to build character and understand right from wrong.

In Wollstonecraft’s very wrong opinion, obedience “shackles the mind and prepares it for slavish submission to any power but reason.” She also goes on to further describe when someone who is obedient as weak (159). When scripturally, anything that our flesh desires, otherwise classified as sin, is the easier option than pursuing righteousness. So obedience is not weakness, it’s actually a quality of strength.

Obedience as a child does not shackle the mind, it trains the mind to pursue what is right over what is wrong, bc by nature we are prone to actions of evil and deceit. It is so vital that this is taken seriously, so when the time comes for that child to make their own decisions without the luxury of their parent's guidance, they will be prepared to make the right choice. 

I commented on Rachel and Drew’s posts


Comments

Eliza Colbert said…
I agree that Wollstonecraft goes a little too far in her critique of discipline. However, I kind of see where she's coming from. Obedience for obedience's sake isn't healthy and likewise with discipline for discipline's sake. And so I agree with you that our motivation in this area needs to be God's word. I think Wollstonecraft stops just short of reaching this conclusion.
October 28, 2019 at 12:39 PM
Drew Hedden said…
Very thought-provoking read. My first thought on the mind shackled by obedience was the same as yours- Wollstonecraft's premise doesn't hold up in that light. With that being said, she probably was looking more at it from that same theme of complete submission to the husband no questions asked, which is decidedly an entirely different conversation as opposed to biblical obedience. I also wonder what MW would think when it comes to what you were talking about regarding the family/home dynamic. One part of me feels that she would really like it, since it is the physical manifestation of what she writes about, but the realist side in me feels like she would not enjoy it after a month of trying to live through it. It's pretty wild to think about how that section of her writing (well, really all of it, but I digress) seemed so radical at the time, but it's accepted fact at this point in time. Great collection and organization of thoughts here!
October 28, 2019 at 2:02 PM
Luke Killam said…
WOW! This hit the nail on the head. I love your point--"The initial years of growing up are intended for parents to train a child in love, but also in discipline to build character and understand right from wrong." This is exactly right. I would have to say that as you earlier said, her bitter feelings of her past and how she was treated as a woman played a big role in how she determined submission/obedience. There is such thing as tutelage, and also such a thing as too free a reign. She goes from one extreme to another because she never had the perfect mix--the freedom in discipline. She can't understand how those concepts correlate, because she sees one as east and the other as west--total opposites. It iss tragic. This mindset led her down a dark path. Although she did have a rough childhood and early life, her decisions (even after writing vindication) did not match what she wrote.
October 28, 2019 at 2:53 PM
Kayla Gill said…
I agree that there is a bit of hostility behind Wollstonecraft's arguments. She seems to be taking a bit of boiled up anger into her writing. However, I think the point she is trying to make is the difference between correction and dictatorship. I have personally seen this where a parent corrects a child so much that they either become a robot, or they crack. She is trying to convey that parents and children should have a healthy relationship and not have the parents constantly yelling over pointless things. I agree with you that children should be punished, you can not learn without correction, but it should be with moderation.
October 28, 2019 at 8:25 PM
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