Dictionary.com describes a selfish person as being devoted to or caring only for oneself; concerned primarily with one’s own interests, benefits, welfare, etc., regardless of others. They are characterized by or manifesting concern or care only for oneself. Homeschoolers have been accused of having selfish motives.
If you do not believe me, check out this blog and this one too. Yep, they think we are selfish. I am OK with that.
The day I told my son’s teacher that I planned to homeschool my children; she outright accused me of being selfish. I was pulling a child out of school that performed very well; in fact, he was probably gifted. (Hmmmm then why had they refused to test him for the past two years?) I just hunched my shoulders at her and moved on. Yes, I was selfish and had that right. Someone has to be selfish for the children. If not the parents, then who?
Parents get to be selfish where their children are concerned:
- We get to see them take their first steps
- We get to hear their fist word
- We get to expose them to our religion first
- We get to teach them our family’s culture first
- We get to teach them our language first
- We get to feed them our food first (and no one cooks like Mamma)
- We get to educate them first
We get to do these things and more because we are their parents. Parents have the responsibility of guiding and molding our children. We all get to do this in our own individual ways. Therefore, if looking out for our kid’s best interest is selfish, then so be it. Call me selfish.
(This essay is an exercise in vocabulary. I encourage you to pick a new word each day and have your children to write an essay. Choose the number of required words according to grade level, age, or ability. Perhaps you will want to do this exercise yourself.) Read my other vocabulary words of the day: syncretism, autodidact, extreme and mediocrity.