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| You're going to feel a little pressure... |
Hey all- My boy started Kindergarten, this year. Despite the best efforts of the GDC, his school starts the day with bringing out the flag and everyone reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. He takes it seriously, hand on his heart, back straight. He knows the words, by heart, just like anything he has heard twice. My question is: How do I shed some light on the text, as it were? How do I break down the idea that he is swearing an oath to the Republic, his Republic, and why it is important and virtuous to do so? He is just becoming aware of the wide world and states, borders, countries are all somewhat abstract concepts. How did your parents explain it to you? "The designer of the gun had clearly not been instructed to beat about the bush. 'Make it evil,' he'd been told. 'Make it totally clear that this gun has a right end and a wrong end. Make it totally clear to anyone standing at the wrong end that things are going badly for them. If that means sticking all sort of spikes and prongs and blackened bits all over it then so be it. This is not a gun for hanging over the fireplace or sticking in the umbrella stand, it is a gun for going out and making people miserable with." -Douglas Adams “It is just as difficult and dangerous to try to free a people that wants to remain servile as it is to try to enslave a people that wants to remain free." -Niccolo Machiavelli The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all. -Mencken | ||
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| Donate Blood, Save a Life!  |
Google Red Skelton Pledge. He’ll do it for you in one of the most patriotic videos ever made. EDIT: The video may be too long for a 5-year old. Watch it yourself and you'll be able to condense it down to something he can understand in a shorter timeframe that shouldn't lose his attention. *** "Aut viam inveniam aut faciam (I will either find a way or make one)." -- Hannibal Barca | |||
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Funny Man |
Don't try now, he won't understand. Just let him know it's important to you and should be important to him, he won't need to know why for now. As he gets older there will be plenty of opportunities to bolster his patriotism with understanding. ______________________________ “I'd like to know why well-educated idiots keep apologizing for lazy and complaining people who think the world owes them a living.” ― John Wayne | |||
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| Member |
Good advice. Use the Red Skeleton video. I love it. Officers lives matter! | |||
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| Member |
This. At his age, he just needs to see solid examples, his parents have the most influence. If you're at a ball game or, at a parade, when the flag goes by, do you take off your hat? Put your hand over your heart? He'll do what dad does because he trusts you and wants to be just like you. A simple explanation is best, if you try to grind and pound into him what is important, he'll eventually turn-off. | |||
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Honky Lips |
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Member |
Still too advanced for a 5 year old but it’s the beast explanation I’ve seen for it. Maybe in a few years. Red Skelton explains the Pledge | |||
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Member |
Screen got fuzzy for some reason... Thank you for that, have not seen but embodies so much of what I/we believe and hold dear. Will show to my kids tonight. “Forigive your enemy, but remember the bastard’s name.” -Scottish proverb | |||
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| Member |
The only thing I can add to what Red Skelton said is that in recent times, disrespect to the Flag has been characterized as disrespect for our Military. It's so much more than that, it is a disrespect for all of us who share the privilege of being citizens. It's your son's Flag, just as much as it's the Flag of those who were privileged to serve in our Military. -------------------------- Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats. -- H L Mencken I always prefer reality when I can figure out what it is. -- JALLEN 10/18/18 | |||
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| You're going to feel a little pressure... |
This. One of the things that I want him to understand is that the flag is a symbol of "us", all together, and the ideas that make us different from the rest of the world. I hope he can then grasp why those ideas attract some of the best and brightest from all over the world and leads them to want to pledge their own allegiance to that flag. Thanks for all the replies. He's a serious lad. He knows when something is "Important" and, for now, that's enough. He will get the finer concepts later. Bruce "The designer of the gun had clearly not been instructed to beat about the bush. 'Make it evil,' he'd been told. 'Make it totally clear that this gun has a right end and a wrong end. Make it totally clear to anyone standing at the wrong end that things are going badly for them. If that means sticking all sort of spikes and prongs and blackened bits all over it then so be it. This is not a gun for hanging over the fireplace or sticking in the umbrella stand, it is a gun for going out and making people miserable with." -Douglas Adams “It is just as difficult and dangerous to try to free a people that wants to remain servile as it is to try to enslave a people that wants to remain free." -Niccolo Machiavelli The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all. -Mencken | |||
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| Oh stewardess, I speak jive.  |
Seems early. Do they understand the gist of symbolism at all, whether the swoosh on Nike shoes or the Dallas Cowboys and their star or family crests or anything like that? Seems a necessary prerequisite, on a conceptual level. Perhaps wean them into the concept eventually leading up to our Flag and ultimately the pledge. These are just random ideas, I'm no expert on the education of 5yo kids, but those are two distinct concepts - symbolism (of anything and of any disposition/tone) and pledges (to anything and by anyone for any reason - good or bad). I would think you'd want to know and be able to measure / demonstrate they understand each of those concepts before getting to the meat of the matter. Good luck. | |||
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| Member |
Red was drafted in March 1945 and discharged about a year later and once said he was the only Celeb who went into the service and came out and was still only a Private. I think he liked that, he was a humble man. | |||
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delicately calloused |
Well son, at my age I am still learning what it means. I suppose we will learn from it's message for the rest of our lives. For now, it's important to know that the pledge is something memorized and repeated by those who love liberty and peace and will faithfully defend them. You’re a lying dog-faced pony soldier | |||
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