NORTHBROOK, IL – Citing “the importance of giving kids the freedom to make their own decisions,” Kevin Hagerman will allow his children to make their own choices as to what religious beliefs to hold in their lives, the 32-year-old father of three told reporters while dressing his 6-month old son Alshon in a Chicago Bears onesie earlier today.
“Too many parents try to dictate their views on their children,” Hagerman said after laying his baby on a fitted Chicago Bears bed sheet in his crib and activating the musical Chicago Bears lullaby mobile over his head. “I am a practicing Catholic, and so is my wife, but that certainly doesn’t mean we expect our kids to follow the same spiritual path that we do. Religious beliefs are deeply personal decisions, and when they get old enough, I want each of my children to be unique individuals who can make those choices for themselves.”
Added Hagerman, “Hold on, I forgot to get him his Nerf Bears football. I try to make sure he sleeps with that at every nap time.”
While preparing lunch for his other two children Walter and Gale, Hagerman told reporters that his open-minded attitude toward religion stemmed from his childhood.
“I’ll never forget the first time my dad talked to me about God,” he said while pouring apple juice into two plastic Chicago Bears sippy cups. “It was during halftime of the first Bears game my dad ever took me to. We were losing to the Vikings 21-10, and Pop ordered me to bow my head, fold my hands, and say a prayer for the Bears to come back and win the game. But he made it clear that it didn’t matter to him which god I chose to pray to, and that I would always be free to choose any deity I liked to pray to for Bears victories. I appreciated him encouraging me to think for myself like that, and I want to give my kids the same options.”