Penna Dexter
A blogger named Robyn Openshaw — a.k.a. GreenSmoothieGirl — wrote a post that will tug at the heartstrings of any parent who has been shocked when made aware of their child’s rejection of carefully-taught, seemingly-traditional values. She writes: “I wish I had figured it out sooner: the worst mistake we ever made was delegating the education of our kids to the state.”
Robyn’s youngest son, age 22, recently informed her of his realization that the founders of our nation are “rich,” “racist,” and worse. Their ideas, he now believes, should be dismissed. He now also affirms that, with the aid of puberty blockers, hormones, and surgery, “a girl he knows can become a boy.” Robyn laments: “His values have turned out so different than mine, and I’m still figuring out why. “
Robyn is not a mom who blithely sent her children off to school expecting the values they learned in their Mormon upbringing to go unchallenged. She co-founded their charter school and “helped choose conservative and accurate and rigorous curriculum.” She made them do chores and helped them “start little businesses, to get a taste of entrepreneurialism.”
Robyn now wonders, like so many other parents across America who find themselves on the way to being canceled by one of their children, if this is just the modern iteration of the “generation gap.” She fears it’s something more insidious. She doesn’t “think any generation in history went from their kids sitting in a church pew on Sunday learning how they were made in the image of God, to believing that you’re a woman if you ‘feel’ like one.”
So this diligent mom, the GreenSmoothieGirl, officially repents — yes — she uses that word. She writes: “I’m deeply regretting delegating his education to people whose values are apparently very different than mine — especially the university degree I paid for.”
Oh Lord, enlighten Robyn. Grant her, and other parents who want a do-over, grace and truth to get through to their kids.