Protesting with kids - advice?

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mizznicole

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Does anyone have tips on bringing your kids to an abortion facility prayerful protest? I can go only if I bring my toddler, but am a bit nervous about him being subjected to anything negative.

thanks for your help.
 
I’m not sure. If it were a march for life, or a life chain it would be one thing…but at a facility? I wouldn’t…I know some sidewalk counselors, and sometimes it can be rough.

Do you know if it will be a large group? Or fewer? I think the more people, the better, safety in numbers.
 
When I did sidewalk counseling at PP there were often “stand and pray” folks out there with young children-- toddlers, infants, older children. They played with their toys, sat in their strollers, some older ones prayed.

I never saw any problems. The PP “escorts” pretty much left people alone with little kids. They didn’t want women headed for abortions anywhere NEAR a child. So, they would steer clear.

Just bring lots of water if it’s hot, some shade/hats, and be prepared to go if the kids get too cranky or if anything does dust up.

I think having kids out there is a real witness.
 
I don’t have kids, but there is no way I would take anyone lower than fifteen. Several reasons, but the two most important (in my mind)

1-The pictures some pro-life people show are so disgusting and repulsive I, as a 29 year old man, get sick viewing them. They only repulse people and get them angry. They don’t work as a deterrent.

2-A child can’t make their own moral choices. Look at it this way-If you grew up with left leaning parents, would you like it if they took you, as a child, to a pro-choice rally?

Havingt said all that, I don’t have kids, but I have a neice who is 6 and a nephew who is 4. One saturday my neice saw a picture of a bloody unborn child on a poster and she shrieked. Not cool to scare children.

I am radically pro-life, by the way, and have engaged in several marches and walks.
 
I have a toddler and I wouldn’t go to a protest at a facility with her only b/c some people could become hostile…
 
There is a lot of potential for violence at a facility protest. I would not take my children and probably wouldn’t go myself for the same reason.
 
I wouldn’t take your children to a protest because I don’t think children belong there. If you, as an adult, feel so strongly about a subject that you wish you visibly demonstrate your feelings by all means do so. But when you bring your child along you’re forcing them to participate in something they don’t understand and potentially subjecting them to people, displays, actions, words that would be harmful.
 
mizznicole said:
Does anyone have tips on bringing your kids to an abortion facility prayerful protest? I can go only if I bring my toddler, but am a bit nervous about him being subjected to anything negative.

thanks for your help.
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I take my young children to pray across the street from the PP on their weekly abortion day :(. there are many other pray-ers and sidewalk counselors there, old, young, and they are all very respectful. the women going into the clinic usually don’t make a scene either. actually I wish they would interact more with the pray-ers and counselors. every now and then the police show up to make sure no one’s actually one the PP property, but they are always very respectful, too. since the rules of no going on the PP property are strictly enforced, I don’t usually bring the kids on the sidewalk right next to the clinic. after all, children tend to run off now and again. 😉

I guess I would bring them… and see how it goes. 🙂 you can always leave if you think things are way out of hand.

I’m kinda surprised at the number of people who think it’s not a good idea… :confused: although I guess I’ve heard of shocking things happening/being said at some prayerful protests, all the ones I have been to have been really quiet. the vast majority of the protesters have been in deep prayer, and the women going into the clinic don’t make a fuss b/c they just want to get in and out. The counselors are also usually very quiet. there are no offensive signs… of this I am glad. so far, my children don’t even know what “abortion” is (the oldest is 6). I say “we’re going to pray for the mommies and babies”. My hope is that me and other mothers there praying with their young children are a good example to the mothers in trouble… maybe possibly giving them some hope that things aren’t so dire.
 
As ratskelling pointed out, those pictures are EXTREMELY disturbing and pro-life or not no small child should see them. Most small children quickly recognize babies (infact, they often recognize and want to interact with babies more than adults) and seeing a baby bloody and in bits is just WAY too much to put on their little hearts.

As a note I’m completely against using disturbing pictures in any public protest, and believe they should only be used in very controlled situations when nothing else will. Weither their mom valued them or not they are still human children whom we should try to value, protect and love. An 6 foot blown up image of one naked, bloody and torn apart does nothing for that child’s dignity.
 
purplesunshine said:
As ratskelling pointed out, those pictures are EXTREMELY disturbing and pro-life or not no small child should see them. Most small children quickly recognize babies (infact, they often recognize and want to interact with babies more than adults) and seeing a baby bloody and in bits is just WAY too much to put on their little hearts.

As a note I’m completely against using disturbing pictures in any public protest, and believe they should only be used in very controlled situations when nothing else will. Weither their mom valued them or not they are still human children whom we should try to value, protect and love. An 6 foot blown up image of one naked, bloody and torn apart does nothing for that child’s dignity.
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ratskelling?
 
Rascalking said:
2-A child can’t make their own moral choices. Look at it this way-If you grew up with left leaning parents, would you like it if they took you, as a child, to a pro-choice rally?
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huh? although there may be many good reasons not to take young children to a protest, I don’t think this is one of them. yes, children below the age of reason can’t make moral decisions; however, as parents, it is our job to help our children learn correct moral choices. One way to do that *may *be to bring along your children to the prayer protests and show them by example that abortion is evil, and that the victims (mothers and babies) are to be approached in prayer and extreme charity. Your example of pro choice parents taking their children to a pro choice rally has no bearing on this question morally speaking, b/c abortion is never a moral “choice”, whether your parents teach you this or not.

i hope I’m making a bit of sense 😊
 
Consecrated said:
huh? although there may be many good reasons not to take young children to a protest, I don’t think this is one of them. yes, children below the age of reason can’t make moral decisions; however, as parents, it is our job to help our children learn correct moral choices. One way to do that *may *be to bring along your children to the prayer protests and show them by example that abortion is evil, and that the victims (mothers and babies) are to be approached in prayer and extreme charity. Your example of pro choice parents taking their children to a pro choice rally has no bearing on this question morally speaking, b/c abortion is never a moral “choice”, whether your parents teach you this or not.

i hope I’m making a bit of sense 😊
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You actually make great sense, and I see your point. However, I politely disagree with it. If we were raised by pro-choice parents in a left wing envclave (Berkley? Boston? LA?) we would be taught different values, and we may not see the truth as it is.

Like I said, I don’t have kids, so I don’t know about there ability to make a moral choice. With something like abortion, which, personally, I want to keep kids innocent, and not even MENTION abortion to them, I have my doubts as to wether or not they can.,
 
We have, directly across from my church, a Planned Parenthood office that has been the focus of organizing at my church. Sometimes, I go into church and see posters of fetuses displayed, right on the church porch, by those who are trying to recruit other protesters.

I wholeheartedly agree with the cause, am repulsed by the methods. Moreover, I have a right as a parent to control the kinds of images my kids see, one that I exercise when it comes to T.V. and movies. It really bothers me that the anti-abortion folks at my parish see fit to override my rights as a parent without consulting me.

I’m trying to find the comments of the U.S. bishop who made critical remarks about the use of alienating imagery in anti-abortion protests. Will post when I find it.

So, to answer the OP’s question, no way would I take my kids to a protest if there were a possibility of violent confrontation or violent imagery.
 
mizznicole said:
Does anyone have tips on bringing your kids to an abortion facility prayerful protest? I can go only if I bring my toddler, but am a bit nervous about him being subjected to anything negative.

thanks for your help.
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I might take them to the walk for life but in my opinion God would rather you take time and care and teaching of your toddler rather than protesting.
 
Why don’t you go there alone first to see what the atmosphere is like.

Different people have very different experiences at different protests. Sometimes they can get ugly, and not really a secure place for a toddler.
 
The group organizing the counseling should be able to let you know whether or not children are welcome. The group with whom I sometimes pray welcomes children as long as they are quiet and well-behaved. They also do not display the photos of aborted babies, which, personally, I have mixed feelings about. On the one hand, they are extremely graphic and disturbing. On the other, I’ve read that when the first film clips of Nazi concentration camps were shown in America, there was a lot of shock and maybe if the Allies had known of the suffering (I mean, if we, the people had known, who knows what the government already knew or didn’t), more people would have been saved. Anyway, that’s something I need to work out on my own.

I agree with a previous poster: go on your own the first time and feel it out if you cannot get in touch with the organizers.
 
I’ve brought a nursing baby and toddler along with me for sidewalk counseling. Its a great age to take them. I think its a wonderful visual for a mother walking in, about to kill her own. She needs to see what she is about to kill.

We prayed while there, and our children prayed with us. When they tired, I had a blanket on the sidewalk for them to sit and have a snack. No violence or any such thing like that.

Older children are more cognizant of what is happening behind the doors and so I would hesitate an older child going. The mothers walking in with their partners or with their own mothers haunted me for months after the last time I was there. I watch 3 women walk in to abort their children, and could even see their “baby bump.” I still cry for the children that would be my son’s age today.
 
Rascalking said:
You actually make great sense, and I see your point. However, I politely disagree with it. If we were raised by pro-choice parents in a left wing envclave (Berkley? Boston? LA?) we would be taught different values, and we may not see the truth as it is.

Like I said, I don’t have kids, so I don’t know about there ability to make a moral choice. With something like abortion, which, personally, I want to keep kids innocent, and not even MENTION abortion to them, I have my doubts as to wether or not they can.,
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Its not my intention to attack… I am just confused by your response. Are you saying that instead of teaching truth to our children, we should teach them nothing and let them learn on their own? (note… I am not saying that a young child needs to know the gruesome details of abortion, but teaching children to pray for mothers and their un-born babies should not be problematic for anyone.)
 
purplesunshine said:
As a note I’m completely against using disturbing pictures in any public protest, and believe they should only be used in very controlled situations when nothing else will. Weither their mom valued them or not they are still human children whom we should try to value, protect and love. An 6 foot blown up image of one naked, bloody and torn apart does nothing for that child’s dignity.
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I totally agree with you, which is why I do my best not to support the new organization here that is into that stuff. They sent their giant truck billboards to Children’s Day at the Calgary Stampede this year, and boy, was I ever steamed. It’s like they were deliberately putting those things into little kids’ faces, for what reason, who can know? :mad:
 
MitziQB said:
The group organizing the counseling should be able to let you know whether or not children are welcome. The group with whom I sometimes pray welcomes children as long as they are quiet and well-behaved. They also do not display the photos of aborted babies, which, personally, I have mixed feelings about.
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I think that those kinds of images have a place in the context of a closed-door meeting of adults only, where adults are getting together for the purpose of having a conversation about the realities of abortion.

I do not think they have a place in the public eye, where children can encounter them by accident.
 
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