Tag Archives: children

What Do Diapers and Abortion Have in Common? More Than You Know.

Posted on April 18, 2024 by Alyssa Sonnenburg

Would you be surprised to learn that major diaper companies support Planned Parenthood? Yes, you read that correctly. Major diaper companies such as Huggies, Pampers, Luvs, and even Honest donate to Planned Parenthood.

Posted in Faith, Marriage/Family/Culture, Sanctity of Life | Tagged Bud Light, children, diapers, EveryLife, EveryLife Diaper Company, families, Parents, Sanctity of Life, Target | Comments Off

Keep Hammering! Unite to Restore Parents’ Rights!

Posted on March 27, 2024 by Alyssa Sonnenburg

Since its inception in January, the Parents Matter Coalition (“PMC”) has been on a mission to raise awareness, educate the community, and teach Illinoisans how to advocate for their families and push back on the legislators and bureaucrats who think they know better how to parent our children.

Posted in Marriage/Family/Culture, Sanctity of Life, Sexuality | Tagged children, families, parentmattercoalition, Parents, PMC | Comments Off

Homeschooling, Part 3

Posted on March 25, 2024 by Alyssa Sonnenburg

We ended the last piece in the middle of our discussion of the biblical benefits of homeschooling. Jesus tells us that every student, when he is trained fully, will be like his master (Luke 6:40), which prompts us to ask: what kind of masters are my children being trained by? We discussed the godless ideas permeating the public school classroom, but education is more than just ideas. It also involves people. So let's also consider more than just the lessons being taught; what about the people teaching them?

Posted in Education, Faith, Marriage/Family/Culture, next gen | Tagged children, Christianity, education, Homeschool, Parents, public school, Teachers | Comments Off

Homeschooling, Part 2

Posted on March 21, 2024 by Alyssa Sonnenburg

In a recent piece together, we explored one of the major benefits of homeschooling that greatly impacted me as a student: the freedom that my parents had to tailor my education to my needs. I know many other homeschool families have reaped this benefit from homeschooling as well. Homeschooling parents are able to educate their children according to their individual needs and aptitudes, which often results in a more rigorous and productive education than the standard fare in the public school system.

Posted in Education, Faith, Marriage/Family/Culture, next gen | Tagged Brian Ray, children, education, Homeschool, Parents, public school | Comments Off

Christian, Do Your Duty: Vote!

Posted on March 15, 2024 by Alyssa Sonnenburg

Every American citizen has, among other things, the right and responsibility to vote. If too many fail to take this responsibility seriously, it allows for a few, with bad intentions, to transform the state into an oligarchy or dictatorship!

Posted in Faith, Federal, Illinois Politics, Marriage/Family/Culture, Religious Liberty | Tagged Abraham Lincoln, America, children, citizen, Culture, duty, elections, family, John Wycliffe, Marriage, Ten Commandments, U.S. Constitution, Voting | Comments Off

Embryo Adoption: A Life-Affirming Option

Posted on March 13, 2024 by Alyssa Sonnenburg

Since the Alabama Supreme Court ruled on February 16 that frozen embryos should be recognized and protected as unborn children, Democrats have wrongfully alleged that Republicans want to “ban” in vitro fertilization (IVF). Even President Biden made this accusation during the State of the Union address last Thursday. However, this is not true. Republicans are not wanting to ban IVF.

Posted in Marriage/Family/Culture, Sanctity of Life | Tagged adoption, Alabama Supreme Court, babies, Biden, children, Embryo Adoption Awareness Center, families, fertility, In Vitro Fertilization, IVF, mothers, Parents, President Biden, State of the Union | Comments Off

Why Should Anyone Homeschool? Part 1

Posted on March 12, 2024 by Alyssa Sonnenburg

I've been blessed to write several dozen articles for IFI on topics ranging from transgender bathrooms to sports gambling to the politically correct concept of "ableism." It's been a very fun ride. But, peering back through it all—the rants on the artificial fertility lobby and the exposés of abortion politics, the laments over the modern denial of science and the abandonment of logic—I still think back to the very first article I ever wrote for the Institute: COVID Boosted Idea of Educational Freedom.

Posted in Education, Faith, Marriage/Family/Culture, next gen | Tagged Brian Ray, children, education, family, Homeschool, learning, moms, public school, research | Comments Off

Redefining Child Abuse

Posted on February 28, 2024 by Alyssa Sonnenburg

Whenever a legislator proposes a new law, supposedly, that new law is intended to solve some problem. But what problem does the law proposed by Anne Stava-Murray seek to solve in HB 4876? Her bill would expand the definition of child abuse to include a parent or other member of the household who...

Posted in Child Exploitation, Illinois Politics, Marriage/Family/Culture, Sanctity of Life, Sexuality | Tagged Anne Stava-Murray, child abuse, children, HB 4876, IDCFS, Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, legislation, medical care, Parental Rights | Comments Off

The Importance of Being Married. Some Thoughts About Love on Valentine’s Day

Posted on February 14, 2024 by Alyssa Sonnenburg

If there is one thing that our cultural leaders are not very earnest about anymore, it is marriage. There is much ado made about dating and the wedding ceremony itself, but how to succeed in marriage itself is given little attention. Statistics indicate that approximately half of marriages end in divorce. This is more than scandalous, it is destructive to the nation and dreadfully harmful to children, to say nothing about how God vies such things!

Posted in Faith, Marriage/Family/Culture, Religious Liberty | Tagged children, Christ, dating, family, love, Marriage, men, Valentine's Day, women | Comments Off

Securing Our Future

Posted on February 9, 2024 by Alyssa Sonnenburg

Our ability to protect children from sexual exploitation is declining every day. The environment has become sexually saturated. Prime-time programs on broadcast television promote casual sex, even for teens. Pornography is impossible to avoid short of disconnecting all electronics. Standards of dress and conduct have become eroticized. Societal taboos about sexual experimentation have severely eroded, and internal inhibitions have steeply declined.

Posted in Child Exploitation, Marriage/Family/Culture, Pornography, Sexuality, Uncategorized | Tagged child molestor, child sexual abuse, children, groomer, mental health, pedophile, Predators, psychology, psychopath, Securing Our Future, sexual abuse, sexual experimentation | Comments Off

Not An Obstacle, But A Heritage

Posted on February 8, 2024 by Alyssa Sonnenburg

We are expecting our third child, due to join us in about a month. Life is full, a little stressful, often mundane, and infinitely more purposeful and joyful than it would be without our kids. I’m tired a lot of the time, but that’s a small price to pay in exchange for my daughter’s unbelievable sense of humor, the weight of my son on my chest when he snuggles after his nap, and the rolls and kicks I feel in my abdomen as I write.

Posted in Faith, Marriage/Family/Culture, Sanctity of Life | Tagged children, Christianity, dink, family, Fatherhood, feminism, heritage, motherhood, Not an Obstacle but a Heritage, parenthood | Comments Off

Illinois Youth Survey Warrants Caution

Posted on February 2, 2024 by Alyssa Sonnenburg

Every school has to know at least a little bit about the students it is teaching, and every school has to provide at least something of value to its students. But there's a flipside—in pursuit of these goals, schools should not pry into areas of family life beyond their proper purview. While every family will have slightly different standards about what is appropriate for schools to inquire about or provide for their kids, I think that concerned parents and observers of the education system may soon sound the alarm that schools are becoming too intrusive.

Posted in Education, Faith, Marriage/Family/Culture, next gen, Sexuality | Tagged Awake Illinois, children, education, Illinois Youth Survey Warrants Caution, Parents | Comments Off

Unsafe

Posted on January 31, 2024 by Alyssa Sonnenburg

There are 341,000 students in the Chicago Public Schools, divided among 638 schools—476 elementary schools and 162 high schools. According to the recent report by the Chicago Public Schools Office of Inspector General (OIG), there were 446 sexual misconduct allegations reported to the OIG during the calendar year 2023.

Posted in Child Exploitation, Education, Marriage/Family/Culture, Pornography, Sexuality | Tagged abuse, Boston Globe, Catholic Church, Charole Shakeshaft, Chicago Public Schools, Chicago Public Schools Office of Inspector General, children, education, Educator Sexual Misconduct, Elizabeth L. Jeglic, Hofstra University, John Jay College, OIG, Parents, public schools, school, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, sexual misconduct | Comments Off

Solving Manufactured Problems?

Posted on January 27, 2024 by Alyssa Sonnenburg

Does it ever seem if the cultural left's calls to action are often aimed at problems that seem—at least somewhat—manufactured? Does it seem almost as if, in a world that isn't run their way, we wouldn't have to face the kinds of issues that they’re trying to fix?

Posted in Faith, Marriage/Family/Culture, next gen, Sanctity of Life, Sexuality | Tagged Abortion, Abstinence, children, family, fatherless homes, government, Marriage, sexual revolution | Comments Off

“Illinois is Failing Children of Color?”

Posted on January 27, 2024 by Alyssa Sonnenburg

A recent news story by Chicago’s WGN9 is titled “Illinois is Failing Children of Color.” It examines “Race for Results” –a report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation which found that children of color face several “inequities” in Illinois.

Posted in Faith, Federal, Illinois Politics, Marriage/Family/Culture | Tagged children, family, government, Illinois, Jack Brewer, Marriage, NFL, Tony Dungy | Comments Off