Comments on: “What Children Know”: A Children’s Rebuttal to Elder Ballard’s Conference Talk

By: Melinda Wallace

Melinda Wallace — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 10:48:46 +0000

This was brimming with wit!!!

Loved it.

By: 2008 Niblets: Rock the Vote Here! at Mormon Matters

2008 Niblets: Rock the Vote Here! at Mormon Matters — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:02:30 +0000

[...] Andrew Ainsworth’s “What Children Know” [...]

By: Last Chance for Niblet Nominations at Mormon Matters

Last Chance for Niblet Nominations at Mormon Matters — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:57:53 +0000

[...] Mingled with Scripture” Mattsby’s “General Conference LOLcats ” Andrew Ainsworth’s “What Children Know” David’s “If God Were A Woman” BCC’s Police Beat RoundTable #10 Burgess [...]

By: Sarah

Sarah — Sat, 03 May 2008 17:03:59 +0000

Child Who Knows:

Nice try attempting to get out of cleaning. This week I taught my children how to make all natural products that can’t harm them and my two oldest kids did the dishes. I sat back laughing silently to myself. What a beautiful sight!

Listen to Elder Ballard, you mini-apostates!

By: Andrew Miller

Andrew Miller — Sat, 03 May 2008 04:03:08 +0000

What an awesome response to whatwomenknow.org. What a joke that petition is.

Funny stuff. Thanks a million!

By: loftysentiments?

loftysentiments? — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 07:48:10 +0000

This piece was mildly amusing, but not interesting enough to stand as a “critique”. So whatever the author’s intent, it doesn’t seem worth getting all foamy at the mouth over. On the other hand, it seems worth mentioning that of the children in the costumes at the top of the post, two of the girls and none of the boys are put on display in sexualized outfits and poses. Perpetuating the spirit captured in that sort of imagery belies the sort of lack of reflection that the “women who know” folks are worried about – the implicit messages, often what’s not said, does as much to shape our culture as anything explicitly articulated. What I see implied in the photos is that boys get to be “real” [insert career], and girls get to be sexy “versions”. Every aspiration a Mormon woman has outside of church and home is reduced to a hobby by so many members. Or worse. If this matters to the poster: please avoid carelessly acceding to this problematic state of affairs as you have here. It doesn’t matter what you intended – only what effect you have.

By: E

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 17:30:24 +0000

I’m late, but great job, Child. Can I sign your statement? And can we publish it in the SL Tribune? That would be really cool.

By: jph3

jph3 — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 01:09:18 +0000

Dear Andrew Ainsworth a.k.a. Child Who Knows a.k.a. Ghost Writer:

I’m pretty shy, so there isn’t much that pulls me out of my ever-so-comfortable position of perma-lurker. But, I just have to comment on this fantastic post – it’s absolutely hilarious!

And for what it’s worth, I completely agree that this post should be appreciated regardless of opinion on the whole WWK thing.

Just my $.02.

By: glenn

glenn — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:19:45 +0000

That is awesome. I’m so jealous — wish i would have thought of it.

By: LesMom

LesMom — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:22:07 +0000

I too loved E. Ballard’s talk. It touched me to the core and helped remind me that what I am doing as a wife and mother are what our dear Heavenly Father would like us to do! He is definitely a man of inspiration! Each of us should turn on each of the talks again and listen to see if we can catch anything that we may have missed before. I do this while I am doing housework and it is wonderful!

By: hawkgrrrl

hawkgrrrl — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 19:50:41 +0000

He just likes Ballard cuz Ballard is the patron saint (patron Latter-day saint) of LDS blogging.

By: Lowdogg

Lowdogg — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 19:26:38 +0000

Brother Ainsworth,

I’m shocked and appalled that you show a preference for one Church leader over another. Shocked. and. Appalled.

By: Andrew Ainsworth

Andrew Ainsworth — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 06:13:44 +0000

Shawn (#81), thanks for having my back on this post, but I think you may have just gotten punked. I have a couple friends who like to punk me by posting statements like #80 and then laugh as they watch me go on the defensive and try to explain away their feigned misunderstandings of my post.

Momof3 (#80) (if that’s your REAL name), on the off chance that you honestly missed the whole point of this post, you misread me entirely. In fact, if you were at all familiar with my previous posts both here and elsewhere, you would find that I quote, compliment, and laud Elder Ballard more than any other Church leader. It is no overstatement to say that he is a gem in the crown of Mormonism and I believe he is one of the most under-appreciated Apostles, perhaps due to his understated style, which I love. He’s down-to-earth and to-the-point without being wordy about it. And if you look at his GC addresses for the past 5 years, you’ll see he’s been on a campaign to reform and improve many aspects of Mormon culture that need reforming. But I often wonder whether we as a Church are listening to him.

Believe me, that last thing in the world that I’d ever do is speak ill of Elder Ballard. I couldn’t agree with him more.

By: Shawn Larsen

Shawn Larsen — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 02:59:54 +0000

“At the very least, get a life and find something better to do.”

Whether or not one finds this post funny, I have no idea how it could be construed as a mockery of Pres. Ballard.

By: Momof3

Momof3 — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 02:51:43 +0000

I am very sad that there are people out there that have nothing better to do than “speak evil against the Lord’s annointed”. I think that we would all do well to remember that he is a Prophet, Seer, and Revelator, called of God. I also think that we should remember our covenants (for any of us who have gone through the temple). At the very least, get a life and find something better to do. I don’t mean to sound jugdemental or anything, but I happen to appreicate the heavenly inspired words of Pres. Ballard. I also love a good joke, but this one isn’t funny.

By: Stan Johnson

Stan Johnson — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 22:40:42 +0000

Ah, good old fashioned satire.

That’s it–m children will go live on a communal farm with a bunch of hippies. I won’t ever run their lives again.

Though, maybe if I get hungry, I’ll eat my children…

By: Sister Lovejoy

Sister Lovejoy — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 21:15:28 +0000

Won’t somebody please think of the children?!?

By: Lowdogg

Lowdogg — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 19:56:29 +0000

I thought this was awesome. I found the whoe “What Women Know” business to be absurd.

By: Jonathan Mahoney

Jonathan Mahoney — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 22:17:22 +0000

At 18 years old, I still consider myself a child. And you hit the nail on the head with most if not all points raised.

By: Matt Thurston

Matt Thurston — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 19:57:29 +0000

Actually thought it would make a nice humor piece in the magazine…

Seems like something the Sugar Beet guys would dream up.

By: JH

JH — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 19:55:06 +0000

You’re right, my attempt at humor (#68) didn’t show up for a few hours on my browser for some reason, and when I posted it it said, “your comment is awaiting moderation”. when it didn’t show I thought I had been censored (though I didn’t assume it had been by you, i don’t know who monitors these things) and posted #69. once again, it appears I’ve made myself the fool, and will be the first to laugh.

By: Andrew Ainsworth

Andrew Ainsworth — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 18:31:45 +0000

Thanks Matt. It is reassuring to know there are people who can appreciate and take a joke. Speaking of which, I’ve been meaning to ask, don’t you think this would be an appropriate presentation for “fun phone-west” next year?

By: Andrew Ainsworth

Andrew Ainsworth — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 18:28:14 +0000

JH, funny. I assume you’re joking as there’s been no censorship of a word you’ve said. If you’re serious, which comment # did you believe was censored and what did you say? I know I haven’t censored anything, and I’d be extremely surprised if any of the other bloggers here censored any of your remarks.

We bloggers here at MoMatters are pro-free speech, as this post exemplifies.

By: Matt Thurston

Matt Thurston — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 18:25:57 +0000

Andrew, knew it was you…

Thought it was hilarious, and I signed What Women Know.

By: JH

JH — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:56:37 +0000

Andrew,

It looks like my most good natured response has been censored. I don’t know what else to say.