Now, I’m not a Luddite, but will admit, as a mother of 7 boys, to have wished that technology might disappear, or at least be severely limited in my home. Playstation restrictions and rules do little to curb the attraction my boys have to the blinking lights, fast action, and endorphins generated by the infernal…
Why Settle for Equality?
“Nothing can ever overcome that one enormous sex superiority, that even the male child is born closer to his mother than to his father. No one, staring at that frightful female privilege, can quite believe in the equality of the sexes. “ G.K. Chesterton – The Higher Anarchy, Whats Wrong with the World The fight…
41st Annual Chesterton Conference
I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to share my love of Chesterton and the natural and supernatural gifts he has given me in this talk with the attendees of the 41st Annual Chesterton Conference. Thank you to the Society of G.K. Chesterton for making the talk available.
A House in which she can be Free
I would give woman, not more rights, but more privileges. Instead of sending her to seek such freedom as notoriously prevails in banks and factories, I would design specially a house in which she can be free. G.K. Chesterton, A Modern Slave, What’s Wrong with the World Chesterton saw the home as the place in…
Chesterton’s Fence Part II
The alternative to the family is the individual. Within the family is mutual obligation. The parent cares for the child, and the child is then obligated to obey and care for the parent. Chesterton saw that as first the father and then the mother was removed from the home, the basic unit of society was…
Chesterton’s Fence, part I
The Drift from Domesticity, found in Chesterton’s book entitled “The Thing, Why I am a Catholic,” introduces the idea of Chesterton’s Fence. Basically, Chesterton claims that we should not tear down a fence unless we know why it was put there in the first place. We would certainly agree with him if there were a…
One Human Being upon a Larger Plan
In Chesterton’s Emancipation of Domesticity, he states that “there must be in every center of humanity one human being upon a larger plan; one who does not “give her best,” but gives her all.” What exactly did he mean by that, and how does it apply to our lives today? Chesterton clearly saw the home…
Education and the Domestic Life
Chesterton was clearly an advocate for both parental involvement in education and education in the home. His wife, Frances, was involved with Charlotte Mason, and Chesterton wrote at least two columns where he mentioned her by name, and many more where he discussed ideas related to her philosophy. Clearly, he knew that the mother had…
G.K. and Stephanie
Our ninth child, Stephanie, was born at home on St Valentine’s Day – a perfect love letter from God. As a geriatric mother, I had been poked, prodded, and tested, and I had discovered that she would likely be born with Down Syndrome, but that her heart and health checked out and we were safe…
On Understanding and Misunderstanding Chesterton
When I first decided to read Chesterton – I approached his work like a treasure hunt. I knew that so many people found these amazing quotes and looked really smart repeating them, and I was up for the game. What I discovered was that finding these quotes was near impossible because I did not understand…