G.K. Chesterton On Parents and Education

"If children see that their teachers despise what their parents desire, there is and must be a conflict of authorities. And there is, and must be, in the modern State, a monstrous discovery; that it is the more new and unnatural authority that has the power." 

-G.K. Chesterton (New Witness, Dec. 27. 1918)

I just read this quote the other day in Gilbert Magazine and it made me stop and think. I couldn't find the article from which this quote is from unfortunately. When reading Chesterton it's important to not just extrapolate from a quote completely because sometimes Chesterton throws a random quote or connection into an article without really dealing with the subject of the quote at all throughout the rest of the article. Of course this is part of his brilliance, the ability to make connections between things that seem completely unrelated, and it makes his writing so Catholic and thus universal. But I am curious to see if this particular quote is part of a larger idea or issue he was dealing with.

I like this point which at first seems obvious but has pretty strong ramifications. A child who's being raised Catholic, especially today where our schools are an even stronger propaganda tool of the government or just the politically correct culture, will learn that there is indeed a huge gap or disconnect between what their teachers, or at the very least what the teacher teaches, and that which the parent is trying to instill in their child at home. Obviously, the politically correct ideals are way more powerful than our Catholic ones in society right now. Its also completely natural for a child to make the connections between the authorities in their life. If what the teachers teach is opposite of their parents try to teach at home, mostly on a philosophical and moral level, then the child will realize this head-butting of attitudes. The next step is simply to understand that the natural authority over the child, his parents, is pretty much made irrelevant by what he's hearing at school since its so supported by society at large. 

I think this just goes to support one of the most important ideals of homeschooling which is to preserve the family as the place of moral learning especially as the gap between Catholic morals and ideals and those of society becomes greater and greater. It becomes so difficult to fight against a school and education system that so blatantly goes against what the child is being brought up with. I think the argument for many of our "catholic" schools to be an even worse example of this happening as the child is being told he's receiving a "catholic" education when most teachers and curriculum is anything but. Or at least is the case with the Catholic system in Canada. The consequences in the child being deprived of the proper authority of their parent is pretty staggering. It exposes the child to view the culture as more of a moral authority than the parents, which in turn damages the dependence and bond between parent and child. I think just the effects of this concept could garner its own post, or article, or book. 

(Also: I've been remiss in not letting everyone know about this great Chesterton reading list to help you start reading Chesterton without being completely overwhelmed! Its a good one!)

(Annndd, I found a wonderful 1906 edition of Heretics on Ebay yesterday! Sooo happy!)

Seven Quick Takes vol 49?

Here's my quick take contribution of the day-I'm not writing a book so be forewarned!

Getting sooo excited for Jen's book and wishing her the best of luck finishing up!!

{one}

First off, guess what day it is?! Encyclical Day!! I've named it because I'm that excited. I'm a total geek. I know. 

I get excited at the prospect of reading a new encyclical! I attribute this completely to the Magisterial Thought course I took at beloved Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy (Shout out!). Because before I took said class I was fairly certain papal encyclicals were just boring tomes written to be purposefully boring because Catholics need extra boring things to read. Oh, and they were also written to just outlaw anything fun.

But no they're not those things at all! They're interesting, and prophetic, and completely "with the times", and speak about all the important things in life! Basically papal encyclicals are awesome. I woulda taken a Papal Thought major if I could have.

{two}

As an aside, do you know how badass I felt when I knew what "Lumen Fidei" meant without needing a translation? Yes, its really basic latin and only two words, but knowing them made me feel extremely smart. I mean, all those latin courses I barely stayed awake through have really paid off.

{three}

So I haven't read the encyclical yet, because it came out this morning AND I have five kids-geezz give me a break people! But here's the link to the actual text and heres a handy article on its key phrases which I found helpful. And here's just the first beautiful quote I've gleaned from the paragraph on faith and family: 

 "In the family, faith accompanies every age of life, beginning with childhood: children learn to trust in the love of their parents. This is why it is so important that within their families parents encourage shared expressions of faith which can help children gradually to mature in their own faith." 

I'm looking forward to hearing Francis's clear and challenging voice in this encyclical and seeing how he furthers Pope Benedict's teachings and theological themes. Its a perfect combination of Pope-thought!

{four}

One of life's greatest mysteries is this strange time-warp that happens to the stay at home mom.

I swear I get up in the morning and all of a sudden its 5 o'clock and I need to start getting supper going. Its as if my whole day evaporates! I honestly don't know where the time goes. I honestly sometimes question what I've done all day. Obviously its take care of children. But some days! Also, in complete contradiction to the days whizzing by, the weeks creep along. It takes forever to reach the weekend! Why?? Why I ask you!?

Do you find this to be the case? Is it just because I have five kids and can't sit down between answering to their beck and calls and toilet issues??

{five}

I honestly can't remember the last time I was bored. I know a lot of stay at home moms deal with this and I understand it, the child-rearing drudgery can rear its ugly head often but real genuine boredom? I think I was bored a couple times when I had one kid. Since then I can't think of a time. A holiday would be sometime where I could go someplace and be bored. 

{six}

That all being said I think I'm reaching that magical time in my postpartum season where I just. want. a. couple. hours. alone. 

I haven't been away from Nora for more than two hours. She's 14 weeks old now. And I'm not even complaining that much, but its starting to hit me that I would like a chunk of time away, by myself, doing anything really, or nothing, alone. For most people alone time is a given. But for parents and especially nursing mothers is like a complete foreign concept. To be honest I kinda envy my husband's two hours a day of alone time he spends commuting to and from work! I don't think its a weird thing to want is it? Should I feel guilty? Well, I shouldn't waste my time worrying about the feeling guilty part because I don't see an opportunity for this to happen anytime soon. But I'm going to try and eek out an hour maybe sometime this weekend?? I don't know. Its probably a losing battle. I can be alone when I'm dead...oh wait...

{seven}

I really love this summer stuff for the record. Every day I wake up thankful there's no snow and my children can go outside for a few minutes without me clothing them anew. Nora's growing and being all cute and precious and three month's old. Max is still refusing to speak a word, yet his personality per pound ratio is out of sight! Luke is even asking me before he does strange and destructive things! Dom is astounded that we have so many flammable things in our home. And Gemma has been a princess for about three days straight and has informed her brothers that attendance to the wedding she'll be putting on this afternoon is mandatory. 

Summer is good. 

Happy weekend one and all! Hope all my American friends had a lovely 4th!

Five Favourites of Summertime

Joining Hallie with some really unoriginal favs-you're welcome!

1.

Four day weekends

The husband just had a four day weekend because his regularly scheduled Friday off landed before the Canada Day Monday off. Four day weekends feel like a vacation for me! Do we go anywhere other than Mass? No, not really. But just having someone to spell me off of the constant diapering, feeding, dealing with whining, entertaining, disciplining etc of five bambinos is a vacay!

Except the four day weekend hangover...because its hitting me hard....reaaall hard. Anyone got any spare patience? Because its 9 am and I'm all out.

2.

Thunder storms

Sometimes I think that on my deathbed what I would think about missing most about this life, other than the people I love of course, would be the things that are common yet wonderful. Like thunderstorms. They're exciting and beautiful and always unique. They sort of scare me, yet I like how the encompass everything around me. They're a paradox of enjoyment.

3.

Beer.

I don't love beer other than in the summer on hot days! Sure, I'll drink it because I don't think I've ever met an alcohol I didn't like...well...that's not completely true...ok...an alcohol I didn't DRINK. Usually I like a good glass of red wine in the evening (or by 4 in the afternoon) because I like a larger alcohol to calorie ratio but in the summer a cold beer tastes like heaven! We've been drinking these...because they're pretty good!

4. 

BBQ-ing.

Partly because my husband likes to do it and I get a meal half off (he only does meat!), and partly because theres no dishes! And partly because I think steak is one of my favourite things anytime. I think I need to further document his bbq-ing skills one of these days. Don't you wish you'd remember to take photos of this important stuff more?

5.

 Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl

I'm really loving this book! I have a thing about food nonfiction - I love it! Basically food nonfiction and biographies of European Royals are my reading kryptonite. I don't want this book to end and I think Ruth Reichl had the best job ever.

Thanks to Anne for the great book recommendations as per usual! (Here's my summer book list if you're looking for more too!)

And I'm linking up with the great Jessica of Housewifespice because a book linkup is the greatest idea I've heard of this week! Yay! 

Cravings? What Cravings?

What cravings did I have in pregnancy, you ask? (Or more specifically Katrina!)

At this point I've been pregnant more in the last six years than not so the lines have blurred substantially in what can actually be classified as a "craving" or just whatever the hell I'm going to eat right now. Ask my husband and he'll say that more often than not I use the pregnancy craving excuse as one of "crutches" to eat junk food or chocolate after 10 pm. But tomatoes-toMAHtoes.

Usually though my pregnancies are not so much TRI-mesters but SE-mesters in the eating department.

via

First Semester: Food is dead to me. Especially healthy food. I can only tolerate that which is made of at least 30% preservatives. I remember with Gemma after the first five months of constant nausea that I could only keep down ramen noodles. Lets not talk about all the issues this must have caused her.

via

Also, I can only drink things that are "sparkling". And don't think I can have them referred to as simply "carbonated" they must be "sparkling". It adds so much more class and drama to my weird urges to only drink sparkling water. I bought cases of Perrier for the first trimesters, but the San Pellegrino Lemon flavour is THE best pregnancy drink in the world. I highly recommend it!

via

Being turned off of coffee in early pregnancy is both my major tip off I'm preggo and one of the biggest sacrifices. Dare I say bigger than giving up alcohol?

via

Once I can stand the sight of food though I go into bizarre soup mode. Only soup appeals to me. Pregnant during the summer? Soup. Blazing heat outside - but eating out? What's your soup of the day my good man!? Its weird, bizarre, but any and all soups all. the. time.

I should give a quick shout out to the Spicy Chicken sandwich from Wendy's. Because I can always go for that when pregnant,. But maybe that's just all time.

Go say hi to Katrina now and her cute Womb Service to see who's eating what!

Seven Quick Takes vol. 48

Joining the great quick takers at Conversion Diary-Hi Jen!

{one}

 In mothering news this week, it had been a rainy start to the week and by...say Tuesday, I was going around the bend. It had been yet another rainy morning, Luke had destroyed a fan in the basement about 3 minutes after I told him not to touch it, Max wasn't napping and was just being a ball of teething fury, the others were just flying by the seat of all the rest of the misbehaviour. So by noon I decided the rain was just wet and fine to play in and unceremoniously shoved the toddles outside. We have literally acres of lawn and yard for them to play in, vast varieties of dollar store balls and toys to play with, a giant swing set and playhouse and yet...and yet...Max and Luke decide to go under our deck and throw landscape gravel at my new basement windows. For some reason they couldn't hear me yelling from inside the house so I decided to storm out there and give them the what for/crawl under the deck and haul Max out. I tear out the front door, go to turn around the house towards the deck, and slip in the mud landing flat-out in a huge puddle.

It was a fine parenting moment. 

On the bright side I was so happy to not have any neighbours at that moment.

{two}

So we all know Google Reader has decided to pack it in on July 1. So please continue to follow me on whatever you've decided to switch over to. 

I personally really like Feedly, its the best to read on your phone or ipad I find, and it seems like I read a lot of blogs on my phone these days while nursing so its nice for that. I think its got the best customizable settings for display for your feed too which is nice for fellow blog nerds out there. And they've also finally come out with follow buttons for those of you with blogs to make it easier for people to follow you which I appreciate!

{three}

So onto the more depressing news of the week-the Supreme Court decisions. 

I'm not American so I'm probably not as outraged as I could be, and Canada has long lost this particular battle, but I have taken enough government and history courses to understand that a Court decision such as this doesn't just effect "gay marriage" its going to effect a myriad of societal aspects that will only continue to erode what basic morality we have in our culture. I get pretty mad that more people don't understand this. Its yet another reason why a poor education system, AND poor catechesis, has such ill effects. No one is willing to actually think. To follow an argument to its conclusion, to understand how one fundamental part of society effects so much else, to think about facts instead of feelings and what's cool, these are basic principles of logic and thought that don't exist anymore. Our parent's generation and our parent's parent's generation have failed miserably in catechizing Catholics. If Catholics were better informed as a whole there might be a bit more resistance. I think its going to be difficult for us to learn how to be Catholic in a hostile society at large. I already fear how difficult it will be for my children to be Catholic and remain Catholic. Argh, this is so cheery.

{four}

If you haven't had a chance yet to read some articles on the ol' Supreme Court decision o' doom heres some I really thought were spot on:

"How Songs Like Macklemore's "Same Love" Change the Marriage Debate"- A great look into the importance of art in political and societal issues. Really well written.

The Anchoress as usual has the most insightful yet on the mark summation of what's going on and why its important. I think I may have to start her fan club.

And as usual Simcha always has the greatest angle on things, and I'm sure she already has a fan club.

{five}

If you need me this weekend, this long weekend-hey Canada!-I'll be painting. That's what we like to do for fun on our long weekends...paint. But more specifically we're finally painting the basement-yay! Behold:

No, I didn't alter these photos at all, that's the colour our basement has been for the past seven years we've lived here. I like to call it "Soul Killing Beige". I've always ignored the basement because I figured we'd just move soon, but seven years later we're still here and five kids need space dammit! So we have to take drastic measures and paint. 

Ok, this is a super dark photo but you get the gist. Its a light sucking beige that needs to be remedied! We're planning on making this area a tv area, because that's a woodstove in the corner and its very cozy in the winter. My husband wants to get rid of the spare room-or that comfy looking double bed, but I feel attached as if that's the reason people visit us. Is it??

Here's the new room the husband built over the winter. It takes us longer to renovate than to make children... 

We're hoping to put maybe Dom and Luke down here. I'm priming and painting and hopefully decorating this too!

Aren't you glad I did so much "staging" and "cleaning" for these fancy blog pictures? 

We're going to do something serious about toy storage as well, and hopefully have some more bookshelves in here somewhere. That's the end game-we'll see how long it actually takes!

{six}

Ok, my basement may be soul-crushing beige but Dwija's poor laundry room is a step above a war zone! She's clearly going for sainthood as I have no idea how she does laundry for a family of five kids there. I can barely do my laundry for five kids and I have a dryer! I can't get over that she doesn't have a dryer...

But the good news is you can go participate in a blogger-love present that Cari put together in raising some money to finish that laundry room while Dwija does important stuff like grow a whole human being! I know I wished I lived down the street from Dwija so I could pop over and just do her laundry for her, and I'm sure anyone who reads her blog does because she's a sweetheart, so it feels so nice to be able to do a little something to help Dwija out in this tough time.

Also if you're in the giving mood, LifeSite News is in need of donors so that they'll get a big 75K donation! This site runs off donations and I'm sure we all read it at least on a weekly basis so please donate anything as its the number of people who donate that's important not the number of money raised! 

And go tell all your rich friends to do the same! 

{seven}

Its a beautiful long weekend up here for the first time all summer! Its going to be hot, hot, hot! We'll all probably melt because we're so unused to warm temperatures. All the kids are clamouring to go to the lake, so we'll try and appease them somehow while also painting the basement. I think we'll end up taking shifts. Although I can't shift off the breastfeeding. Oh well. I hope everyone has an excellent weekend filled with all the good things of summer! Happy Canada Day!

Summer Reads

Its summer you say? Then it must be time to enjoy sunshine, or long evenings, or some time away from it all with a great book!

Summer reading is a sacred thing. Reading a good book in the summer makes the summer feel so very full and rich, and the book memorable. But reading a book during the summer that disappoints makes you feel ripped off and as if you've wasted precious time!

Here's a quick list of some of my recommendations that shouldn't disappoint and should leave you with only pleasant summer reading memories. I've tried to pick out a variety that can appeal to different reading moods-because we all know that what you're in the mood for is what makes for a great time reading. Make sure to read while enjoying a margarita, sangria, or if preggo, a great lemonade or iced tea!


Light But Bright: The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton


Let's start with an easy easy read. A girlie read. The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton fits the bill for a well written novel that sucks you into the unraveling of a long-held family secret. I enjoy Morton's portrayal of elderly characters. So seldom do modern writers respect the elderly enough to make them main characters with thoughts and feelings when they always prove to be so very interesting! This story centres upon the elderly mother who can no longer reveal her past due to illness, yet her daughter searches for the truth. I thought this book was the perfect combination of mystery and family drama and read it in about a day because Morton has a great skill of writing perfect chapter cliffhangers!


Smart AND Fun: Scoop by Evelyn Waugh

I think this is probably the best satirical book ever written. Ok, I can't say I've read every satirical book ever written, but this still has to be the best! It tells the tale of mistaken identity when a rural man named Boot is mistakenly sent by a large London newspaper to a fictional African country to cover an expected war. Boot has no idea what he is doing, but finds that most reporters there don't either! Waugh captures perfectly the strange relationship between the media, news, and historical events with a wry sense of humour and a perfectly crafted story. I want to reread it now just thinking about it. I recommend it for those who are in the mood for an expertly written novel with a fun dose of cynicism!


Dramatic Classic: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier


For my classic recommendation I have to say that Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier is worth the read,or reread! If you're in the mood for romantic drama, or maybe melodrama, then this is one of the best! I love it for its melodrama. And if you've never read it then you've never enjoyed melodrama quite like this. Its romantic and chilling and over the top in many ways, but done perfectly. What's not to love about marrying a dashing husband, moving to his gorgeous English manor house only to figure out you probably should have asked him a little more about his previous wife and how he chooses his domestic staff??



Quirky and Quick: Memento Mori by Muriel Spark

Memento Mori by Catholic novelist Muriel Spark is the book for you if you're looking for a novel that almost defies genres and is completely different from what you're used to reading. I'm recommending this if you're into quirky, sometimes strange books that still have wonderfully drawn characters. Muriel Spark writes a short novel here about a smart set of geriatrics who receive anonymous phone calls telling them to remember they too must die. The characters all deal with these calls differently and many buried secrets and sins come to light. Its fascinating, brilliantly written, with a killer sense of humour.



Mandatory Marvellous Mystery: The Fashion in Shrouds by Margery Allingham

 I think it a shame to let a summer go by without reading a classic mystery. I'm the biggest fan of Agatha Christie, Margery Alligham, Dorothy Sayers, and Ngaio Marsh, otherwise known as the Queens of the Golden Age of Mystery. Somehow reading these mysteries are both comforting and pure enjoyment. The Fashion in Shrouds is a Albert Campion mystery, Allingham's chic and witty hero, but its a treat to read as its a great depiction of the 1930's rich and powerful in London. It has mystery, romance, humour, and the great characters that Allingham excels at creating.



Well, I'm going to stop there. I hope that you give one (or all!) a try and enjoy them wholeheartedly this summer! And I'm always looking for a good read so tell me what favourite book you've read lately. I'm also on Goodreads doling out honest opinions on everything I read, so feel free to follow.

Seven Quick Takes vol. 47

Joining my friends the Quick Takers again this week.

Thanks to Jen for hosting as usual. Clearly Jen should move to Canada for the summer so she can throw children outdoors, then I could maybe move to Texas in the winter so I could throw children outdoors then!

{one}


Its like two of my favourite things!

So I ran out of internet here at home on Monday. My husband lays down the law and refuses to pay even more money for high speed peasant internet service so when our small amount of gigs or whatever internet is measured in these days runs out we have to wait until the bill flips over so I waited impatiently until our billing period flipped over last night. It was some serious silent days. It felt like lent. I think I'm a little dependent. I missed blogs the most. It feels nice to read and check in with people in the morning in between dealing with all these baby needs. But I'm behind in checking in with all my faves and I haven't had a chance to respond to emails yet. 

{two}

I think I've not taught my children the concept of "fast". Theres this giant gap in their basic knowledge. Say something like "Hurry up" or "Quickly!" or "Faster!" and their eyes just glaze over. The other day I was just trying to get out the door to walk to my mom's, the baby was in the stroller and was going to start freaking out if she didn't start moving in the next 30 seconds, Max was patrolling for mud, and the three oldest kids were finding their things that they can't possibly leave the house without yet have no idea where in the house these things are. Luke had finally found his spiderman figure and was in the living room, I said, "Lukey, cmon, hurry the baby's crying" and I swear he slowed down. He was moving at a glacial pace. Suddenly he had to look at light switches as if he'd never seen one before in his life! 

The other night Gemma literally said, "What does 'Hurry up' mean?". I think I just walked away and poured myself another glass of wine.

Ahhhhhh!!! This is why we can't leave the house!!!

{three}

You've got to go out and buy Dad Is Fat by Jim Gaffigan. Its hilarious. He's a really funny comedian and I believe you can buy his show "Mr. Universe" on his website, its also on Netflix here in Canada and is well worth the watch. But the book really goes into his experiences as a father and his life with five kids and its really wonderful. Not just because you almost pee your pants laughing while reading, but because it almost feels like my life. Except he's all glamorous and lives in New York City, but so many things he describes in hilarious accuracy are right out of my life. Basically anyone with kids could relate, but I think some of the wilder tales he tells about having more than two kids must seem strange and bizarre to people without kids, but to us with 5 or so kids it seems so normal.
He's so pro-family when it comes down to it. And you just don't see that that often in mainstream entertainment. Its really great.
And I think that people in the mainstream entertainment industry who are pro-family should really be supported. We can at least try to make them successful!

{four}

The husband and I are going to have a fire date this weekend! We have a fire pit in the backyard which is a nice place to enjoy a beautiful evening, the wind in the trees overhead, the quiet of being away from our children...you know, its nice!
 I say this because its something we usually do a lot in the summer and we haven't been out once yet this year-its been so sad. But Nora usually doesn't go to sleep till after nine and the husband has to be up so early for work we can't go out later during the week and theres too many mosquitoes out there right now for her so one of us is in during the evening, and its been rainy every weekend so far. But this weekend we're going to bonfire it up after everyone's asleep and hopefully have some good scotch!

{five}

Ok, if you just read that last take and were thinking something like, "take that baby outside-there's nets, and outdoor stuff, and I climb mountains with a baby on my back and camp!" To you I say: Blleeech. Outdoors with a small baby is not my cup of tea. Or glass of wine. Or five star hotel. Basically its similar to torture.

{six}

Hey-I'm starting to sorta, almost, kinda, maybe think of homeschooling curricula, books, etc. for this upcoming year. I'm just doing Grade 1 with Gemma, I'm not big on early reading, and I want to mostly be focused on reading books and literature, so I'm not really freaking out. But if you've got good beginner tips/books/ideas/a person willing to homeschool for me let me know, I'd love to hear!
I was homeschooled so I'm fairly confident in the education part of homeschooling, so that's not really something I'm worried about. The thing I'm worried about is me going crazy. Being. Around. My. Kids. All. The. Time. That's what I'm worried about. But I mean I'm around them all the time now, and I'm making it right? That's sorta my goal as a mom. It just daunts me a little when I think about the future. The future just daunts me in general.

{seven}

If you've need something to pray for, please pray for all of southern Alberta that's being affected by flooding this week. I grew up in southern Alberta and have been through a couple of floods as we lived along a creek, but this one is much bigger than anything I've experienced. I couldn't have imagined that Calgary could experience such flooding!

Its a pretty crazy weekend down there, it makes me miss Calgary and my old house actually. Wish I could help!

Hope everyone has a great weekend, free of floods!