Why Parents Need to Parent

Proverbs 9:10 says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight." Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it." What happens when such precepts are ignored? We end up with stories like this:

He's an 8-year-old boy who wants to attend second grade here in the Douglas County Public Schools, but with an unusual stipulation: He wants to go to class as a girl.

That means wearing girls' clothing if he likes, being addressed by his teacher with a girl's name, and using the school's two unisex, family bathrooms instead of the boys' room.

School district officials are preparing to accommodate the transgender child and his family, but not without public fuss.

Other parents at the school have gone public with their objections, citing concerns about exposing their own children to the sensitive subjects of sex and gender identification, and questioning the wisdom of the school's accommodation of the boy.

"I don't think a [second-grader] does have the rationale to decide this life-altering choice," said Dave M., who told Denver's KUSA-TV that his daughter will be in the same class as the transgendered boy.

Kids can't get a driver's license until they're 16. They can't vote until they're 18. We make them wait until they're 21 before they can drink. But a child of eight is capable of deciding which gender he would like to be?

The implication in Proverbs is that young children really do lack the rationale to make life-altering choices. That's why it is important for mothers and fathers to do their jobs as parents and, well, parent.