What is a family?

Everyone has his or her own definition, and depending on how they were raised and what they were taught as a child, that definition sticks with them through life.

Mom, dad, little sister, dog, cat, fish tank and a white picket fence. To some people, that is a family. However, in today’s growing and changing society, that definition is not necessarily true.

What about grandmother, sister, brother, half-sister? What about two fathers or two mothers?

In Evesham Township, N.J., a video called “That’s a Family” was shown to a class of third graders. The video contained examples of all different types of families, including: divorced, adopted, interracial, gay and lesbian.

Some parents in the town were huffing and puffing about it, specifically about the video’s depiction of same-sex couples. They claimed they should be able to decide what their child is taught and at what age they are taught it.

The school district stopped showing the video to children because of the upset parents.

The school board appointed a 27-member committee, consisting of parents, teachers and administrators, to make the final decision on whether to ban the video.

The committee recommended that the district continue to show the video, but the district rejected the recommendation and the video is still banned.

By banning this video, the district is saying that the families in the wealthy suburb of Philadelphia are the only kinds of families. Once those children grow up and leave Evesham Township and enter the world as a grown-up individual, they will be surprised at what they see.

Parents should have a say in what their children learn at an early age, but they should consider how society has changed since when they were growing up. Families are structured differently today from how they were in the past and parents should be aware of this when giving their children the groundworks they need to survive on their own later in life.

If parents want to pull their children from the class while the video is shown, that’s fine. But to ban the video entirely is doing these children and families an injustice.