Independent Thinker...To Be Or Not To Be

From a young age we were told and we later tell our children to be individuals and to think for themselves. Later when they enter into various institutions such as school and church, we want them to follow the crowd mindlessly. Later we tell them that they need to think for themselves as teenagers and we get frustrated when they succumb to peer pressure, yet we have trained them to be followers. We tell them to be who they are, yet we have not let them develop into individuals for fear that they may not fit in. Then as adults the behavior continues. I am trying to hold this in the road as a homeschool issue, but for IMO it applies to any institutional way of being. I tell my children to question the systems. Question EVERYTHING! Things are not right just because it's always been that way.

Letting them develop into the individuals that God intended them to be can both difficult and joyful, but it will make for a stronger, grounded, and loving adults.