Candidates kids should be off limits!!!

Should Palin's daughter's pregnancy change anything in the political landscape? No, no, no, a thousand times no. What's the news story here? The kid made a mistake, plain and simple. All our kids make mistakes, just some not so public and visible. Bristol Palin is not the candidate, her mother is.

I'm pretty sensitive to this because although on a much smaller (actually miniscule in comparison) scale, I've gone through it in the ministry. All pastors with kids have. Many times our children are singled out because of our position, when in reality it's not them that received or accepted the call to the ministry or the pastorate, it's us. While we in leadership are scrutinized and even criticized to a higher degree (and we learn to expect that as it comes with the territory) our kids shouldn't have to deal with it. Yet many expect more out of pastor's kids than other children. Everything they do is magnified, and truly, that is not right. I know my sisters in ministry who are reading this understand and know how important it is to protect our kids from this type of undue pressure. Should Bristol Palin have to face the consequences of her decision to have sex out of wedlock? Yes, and she is. However my point is, let her face those ramifications outside of the media spotlight. Leave the poor girl alone.

Regarding her mother, I've already read blogs that say, "Isn't this hypocritical? Doesn't Palin preach abstinence?" Yes, and I'm sure she still does. But although we raise our kids with the right values, sometimes they still make mistakes. They have this thing called free will, as much as it bothers me sometimes. (SMILE)

If anything I think this further solidifies that Palin lives what she preaches. She is strongly pro-life. Now not only has she gone through with having a Down's Syndrome child after having been told this while pregnant and give the option of abortion, but she, along with her husband, is also now helping her daughter navigate the difficult waters of a pregnancy out of wedlock. She's having to live "pro-life" when faced with the very real ramifications of it. She didn't sneak off with her daughter to get an abortion and "make this problem go away". Believe me, I unfortunately know for a fact that there are some Christians and even church leaders that have done that with their children when faced with this situation. Even with a high profile position, Palin did not fall into the trap of doing that. She did the Godly thing and is facing this issue head on. What's the scandal here? She's doing what any right thinking Christian would do.

Yes her daughter has made a mistake, a sin in fact. However, as parents we can impart to our children the truth of God's Word as best we can and then hope they follow it. When they do not there are consequences but it is not necessarily reflective of the way we have raised them.

Barack Obama made it clear early on in the process that his girls were off limits and aside from the DNC, they have been out of the spotlight. For the record, he's also said in a news conference today that he believes Bristol Palin should be off limits to the media. It's very admirable that he is not taking any shots at all at Palin over this and is handling it with the utmost of grace and integrity. I hope all Americans will take Obama's lead on this. I'm impressed with how he's handled it. Kudos to Obama and to Palin.