New elementary school textbooks, "different family forms" and the question that no one has the right to avoid: who decides what is taught to a seven-year-old child?
Mothers, women, get up from the couch. Leave TikTok and screens for a while. Our children need our voice, our presence and our protection. Let's not let others silently decide what goes into their minds and souls. Get informed, ask, speak up, participate. The education of our children is not someone else's business. It is our responsibility too.
There has to be a limit somewhere.
And this limit is not determined by either the Left or the Right, nor by the "progressives" or the "conservatives."
It is determined by the fact that we are faced with children.
Seven and eight-year-old children who go to second grade to learn to read better, to write, to understand language, to discover the world.
And suddenly Greek society is informed that a new, officially approved language textbook for the 2nd grade presents, among different family structures, families with two fathers or two mothers.
This is not about internet fame.
The public discussion concerns the book "My Language" by Nissos Publications for the 2nd Grade and book Social and Political Education of the 6th Grade of the Poukamisas PublicationsBoth have been approved under the new "Multiple Book" system.
However, we need to correct from the beginning an exaggeration that is circulating: These specific books are not distributed to all children now, nor are they the only textbook that will be mandatory everywhere.
The Ministry of Education has initiated a process in which school units select from the approved teaching packages of the Textbook Registry. Their implementation is planned for the school year 2027-2028.
But this clarification does not make the question disappear.
On the contrary, it makes it more specific:
By what criteria was this content approved for 2nd grade children?
In the book in question, children are asked to observe images of different family structures, comment on them and then think about which image most resembles their own family. The images include families with two men or two women in a parental role.
And here, in my opinion, lies the real issue.
It's not whether there are children in Greece today who grow up with two parents of the same sex.
There are.
The Greek State has in fact established equality in civil marriage with Law 5089 since 2024 and has adapted provisions concerning same-sex spouses and parents. This is the current legal reality, whether one agrees politically or disagrees.
The question is different:
Should every social and legislative change be automatically transferred to a seven-year-old child's book?
And, if so, who decides? never, how, σε ποια ηλικία and with what scientific and pedagogical documentation?
Here it is not enough for a committee to say "we approved it".
Parents have a right to know.
They have the right to see the entire material.
They have the right to know who wrote it, who evaluated it, by what criteria it was approved, and who deemed that this particular approach is appropriate for children of this age.
Because school is not a social engineering laboratory.
It is not a place where every government, every scientific committee, or every ideological current will test its perception of society on children.
The school has enormous power.
And precisely because it has enormous power, it must also have huge responsibility.
The case has already provoked political reactions even within the government. Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis stated that the government is not following a “woke agenda” and used the characteristic phrase that “the father is the father, the mother is the mother”, rejecting the terms “Parent 1” and “Parent 2”.
Notis Mitarakis also publicly stated that he disagreed and requested a reassessment.
But if even government officials express surprise or disagreement, then a second question arises:
Who exactly controls what goes into our children's books?
It is not possible for the state to approve a teaching material on the one hand and, on the other, when social backlash erupts, for government officials to declare that it does not express a "woke agenda."
Someone wrote it.
Someone rated it.
Someone approved it.
And the Greek government included it in the Register.
Therefore, the citizen has the right to ask for names, criteria and answers.
But we don't need to go to the other extreme.
Portraying children who already live with same-sex parents as a “threat” to other children is neither fair nor scientifically substantiated. A large systematic review of the international literature did not find that the sexual orientation of parents is in itself a determining factor in negative child development.
So let's not confuse two different things.
Another thing is respect for every child and every family that already exists.
And another is the right of the State to introduce social and value issues at very young ages without meaningful public discussion with parents.
That's where the red line is.
I don't want a child to be ashamed because their family is different.
But I also don't want a parent to learn from the newspapers what their seven-year-old child is going to be taught.
I don't want any child to become a weapon in adult culture wars.
Neither on one side nor on the other.
And perhaps this is our biggest failure.
Instead of discussing whether our children are learning Greek correctly, whether they know History, whether they are developing critical thinking, whether they can write a proper paragraph, whether they love books, and whether school is preparing them for an extremely demanding world, we end up fighting again over the ideological obsessions of adults.
Children don't need camps.
They need education.
No slogans needed.
They need knowledge.
We don't need to bring all the culture wars of our time into the classroom.
And parents should not be treated as mere spectators.
Our children do not belong to the state.
The State organizes their education.
Teachers teach them.
But parents are responsible for their children's upbringing and are entitled to full information on issues that touch on values, family perceptions, and social norms.
That's why before 2027 something very simple is needed:
Open the books. All of them.
Let the parents see it.
To be presented publicly.
To hear from educators, psychologists, teachers and families with different opinions.
Explain why each section is appropriate for that specific age.
And where there are reasonable objections, a review should be conducted before the book reaches the desk and not after it arrives.
Because democracy is not afraid of dialogue.
And Education has no need for secrets.
So the real question is not whether someone is "woke" or "anti-woke."
The question is much simpler:
Who has the right to decide what will enter the soul and mind of a seven-year-old child — and why should parents be the last to learn it?
This is the question that the government and the Ministry of Education must answer. before the first bell of 2027 rings.
Πηγές
- Ministry of Education, June 4, 2026: process of selecting books by school units for 2027-2028.
- Ministry of Education, April 8, 2026: inclusion of 230 books in the Register and implementation of the Multiple Book in 2027-2028.
- LiFO / Proto Thema, September 4, 2026: content of the 2nd and 6th grade textbooks and public reactions.
- To Vima, September 4, 2026: intervention by Notis Mitarakis and request for reassessment.
- Hellenic Parliament – Law 5089/2024: "Equality in civil marriage."
- BMJ Global Health – systematic review/meta-analysis: international data on the development of children in sexual minority families
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photo antoabellan, https://pixabay.com
