The ill-fated, diminutive arachnid which ascended a rooftop drainage device prior to a precipitation event

Apparently, I am a failure for not pushing my children to sing, upon random relative’s command, a verse about a small spider.  I haven’t found it necessary to reinforce the motions of a preschool song, which they mastered and moved on from years ago.  They know the song, and could sing it if they desired, but I would never deem it an important enough song to ask them to perform for an audience, especially before they’ve had their breakfasts, and I certainly wouldn’t allow someone else to force them to sing.  Indeed, the children’s memorization lessons are focused on the character and faith reinforcing the words of our religion’s prevailing text.  Their music lessons come from the same source and encompass verses focused on extolling the virtues of following and believing in our God’s written word.  Yet, I would still never deem it necessary for them to perform these recitations upon the demand of someone they are unfamiliar with.

Aside from this sore situation of abuse, where I’ve allowed my children to pursue their current interest of astronomy by learning and memorizing the heavenly bodies instead of learning the musical importance of the ill-fated, diminutive arachnid which ascended a rooftop drainage device moments prior to a precipitation event, I have been informed that no one cares about the planets nor the constellations.  Which stands to reason that no one cares about the explorers navigated by those skybound objects burning in the night.  This means that the lessons the children learned immediately prior to setting out from home on this vacation were for naught.  We should have sung nursery rhymes instead of discussed the night sky.

So do not bother to question why we are here. 

Nor ask how people traveled in the past. 

No one cares about space.  Its all about the ill-fated spider. 

How do I know?  The previously referred to relative was a teacher for 30+ years.  She is an expert on what people should know, and she knows that no one cares about how the peoples of the world have traveled and redistributed population prior to GPS--or even how the global positioning system works.

Likewise, my crimes include not requiring my children to talk to people that make them feel uncomfortable.  I do not require them to make conversation when they are in the midst of acclimating to a wakeful state.  I do not require them to do the chores that are better suited to a person of adult stature and skills, without reasonable modification.  I also do not require them to clean up after more than themselves.  I know, I know, it’s a horrible thing to promote personal responsibility at the ages of 7, 6 and 3.  I must be failing my children by focusing on tasks that reinforce the concepts of cleaning up after yourself, taking care of your possessions and learning the best way to complete assignments via supervised learning. 

I wonder if this offended feeling will fade in time, or if its just the beginning.  I do know that I do not have to answer to a person who has spent very limited time with my children, and that I will limit my family’s exposure to such toxicity.  I suppose that this is something seasoned home educators have dealt with quite often, and I had no reason to expect that we would be exempt from such bias and attitudes.  I am just taken aback by the attack on a child who refused to sing the itsy-bitsy spider.