"I'll let my kids make up their own mind"

We've all heard somebody say, "I'll raise them (Catholic, Baptist, 

Jewish, you name it) until they're old enough to make up their own

mind."

Well, how magnanimous of them to allow their kids freedom of 

thought and conscience! Nominate them for Parent of the Year!

Could you imagine them saying, "I'm going to tell them fire is 

dangerous, and let them make up their own minds." or "I'm going 

to raise them to live in a democratic society, but let them move to 

China or Cuba when they're old enough" ?

What the parent is really saying is, "I don't believe there is any 

truth to x religion, but I want my kids to be good and have some 

cultural experiences like first Communion or Bar Mitzvah. We 

can't know anything about God anyway, and who's to say what is 

right and wrong? I don't want my kid to judge anybody and be a 

closed-minded bigot."

Sounds like somebody is closed minded, and will raise minds closed 

to the truths that there is truth and it is knowable.

The truth is kids do make up their own minds anyway.  Parents should

encourage this, in a way.  That is, they should help kids conform their 

minds to reality, not to their feelings or how they want things to be. 

Ironically, our putative parent is right without knowing it.  Parents have 

no choice but "to let kids make up their minds." A parent who doesn't do

that treats kids as pets.  The task for parents is to present the truth to kids, 

encourage them to think critically (at the appropriate stage of development,

of course) and have faith that the truth will abide and error will fall away.