Paradise Under Your Feet — Page 182
182 picked up from the world around them. It is far better they hear guidance from you instead of some confused children in the playground, or the latest Hollywood sitcom. We need to be proactive in our approach, not reactive. Like vaccinations, we need to inoculate our children with our values, since no person is an island and we interact with society around us. Homosexuality is of the more emotionally charged issues of our time, and the fight is being taken to people holding traditional values regarding family and marriage. It is important to equip ourselves with information and become aware of the facts and data so we are thoughtful and considerate in our debates. Far too often, politics and activism influences public perceptions of homosexuality instead of good science and reason. Pre-Elementary and Elementary School Years We need to explain to our children in an age specific way our fundamental grounding of society; how and why a family is formed and how all of us are created from a male and female. The bond of man and woman is the basic unit from which new life is formed. Males and females are thus different and not interchangeable. There is an underlying wisdom in nature, and one of these is the miracle of procreation, which Allah has willed. As they progress in age, even elementary school children will encounter contrary lifestyles, which will naturally lead to questions. They may come to hear someone has ‘ two dads ’ or ‘ two moms ’. Our children should be told that we, as Ahmadi Muslims, have a certain ideal of a family and unfortunately not everyone values what we do. It can of course apply to many other things such as dating, dancing, and alcohol use, etc. Our children are in the process of realizing not everyone is alike in what we value. However, with appropriate