My 11 year old spends 50% of his time with an anti-science and anti-vaccine family. Single parent me (in Ohio) doesn’t have a lot of support when I’ve tried to help fight some of those thoughts he’s been brainwashed with in the name of religion. I’m christian, but his other household is extremists. “You believe in science too much” and “cavemen never existed” are things he’s said in the last year. He’s a straight A very smart child, he’s just been brainwashed and I want to try to help him before it gets worse.
What kinds of shows, books, documentaries can I expose him too to make him think more critically about some of these things so he understands science is real and vaccines work?
He does get into Veritasium on YouTube, so I feel like that’s a step in the right direction for science and critical thinking.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Cheers
From the wording of the post and depending on where they’re located, this is a child that is a part of a legal custody arrangement. Removing the step-parent from the child’s life is not a simple thing that is within the power of OP unless the other parent can be convinced which seems unlikely.
They would need to go through the legal system and demonstrate that the child is in a clear and present danger in order to amend their current custody agreement. Ideological differences are not going to be enough for a court to agree to any changes except in the most extreme of cases. At least in the US.
I know, at least in my country, anti-vax indoctrination does count as clear and present danger, and while you probably wouldn’t outright get full custody, you could potentially get an injunction against anti-vax indoctrination.
Sadly I doubt this is true of the US.
Quickly looking over their history I’d be willing to bet they are US based and although I’d be happy if that were possible it most certainly is not. An injunction of that nature to censure “religious” speech, even on the slim chance it would be granted, is basically unenforcable here. They would get a slap on the wrist a few times and then maybe with enough evidence a less favorable custody percentage, but by that time a lot of the damage will have already have been done to the child. They’re at a pretty impressionable age.
Yeah, here, your rights to religiously indoctrinate your children are protected by our charter of rights. Anti-vax beliefs, on the other hand, certainly wouldn’t fall under that purview.