The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves

by PaintedToeNail 26 Replies latest jw friends

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  troubled mind

  Painted Toe Nail ......You are a parent too in this household . Your husband does NOT have the exclusive right to force religion on the children, you may have been raised a JW to believe this bs ,however untrue . He is not the HEAD of the household ,you are equal partners .Why can you not decide that if that do not want to attend then it is okay to stay home ,period . Stand up to this guy ...

  One day your children are going to wonder why you did not stand up to Dad ,and protect their personal rights .Does it seem selfish to them that you get to stay home yet they get no personal choice ? You may think it is just firming their resolve to hate meetings ,but be careful it doesn't backfire and they begin to resent you.
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  PaintedToeNail

  My children are well aware of how things are here. They have been told why I will no longer go to the meetings. Their father wanted to gloss it over that I was somehow depressed and would eventually return to the KH. I refused and told them exactly what the real reasons were. We discuss openly the crazy teachings and how things do not make sense. I take their side every time. I have stepped up to the plate and run interference regularly. The fact remains that he is their father. He has the legal right to drag them to the meetings. To seperate from their father and disrupt their home would be worse for them, as they are well loved and cared for by both their parents. Their father has never know how to relate to them, which makes things easier for me.

  There have been people who have tried to pull the 'God is Watching You' crap and I have emphatically told them that is a crock of crap, god doesn't care if they chew their fingernails or suck their thumb (these were real threat about god given to them), especially since those saying this crap are known to be blatantly rude to people, sue people or so forth. The question is posed to my kids, 'which is worse, being nasty to someone who wishes you Merry Xmas, or sucking your thumb?' The kids get it.
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  Soledad

  Painted, you have a rough road ahead of you, but I absolutely respect and admire the stand you're taking.

  Bear in mind, as the years progress and the children get older, they will need to understand what constitues a healthy relationship between a husband and wife. As it stands right now, they aren't being exposed to a good example of it. This will be important during the years that they start selecting people to date, as you probably wouldn't want to see your kids selecting relationships that will replicate the scenario they witnessed at home between mom and dad growing up.
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  EmptyInside

  Maybe you could reason with your husband,that forcing the kids to go to the meetings will only make them hate them more.

  Maybe compromise will make the house less stressful He can study with the kids at home,and maybe just a few meetings a month.

  I know the ideal would be the kids not going at all,but to a die-hard Witness,I doubt your husband would go for that.

  I know I faked sick a lot of times. I would get panic attacks before the meetings,even as an adult. It's funny how I no longer get panic attacks since I left.
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  MrFreeze

  When I was about 9 years old I broke my wrist. I got very excited (internally) that my mom said I didn't have to go to the meeting that night. Now that I think about it, I prefered my bones to be broken over going to the meeting.
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  Vidiot

  tiki - "This guy needs some courses in child psychology, not to mention common sense."

  But wouldn't that be "worldy wisdom"?
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  Vidiot

  PaintedToeNail - "I read Blondie's overview of today's Watchtower Study, and how we are 37 years into the 1000 year reign, according to WT publications."

  Wait, what???