purtell@reed.UUCP (Lady Godiva) (08/19/85)
In article <670@cyb-eng.UUCP> howard@cyb-eng.UUCP (Howard Johnson) writes: > >There is a very good reason why marriage partners vow to make their >marriage permanent: children need the attention of their parents in >order to develop those traits which society acknowledges as valuable >and good. A child's happiness, self esteem, trustworthiness, etc. >depend on that attention. Both parents are responsible for providing >their children the opportunities for learning how to be "good." I disagree. It is an incredible blanket statement to say that all children *need* to have two parents in the home for happines, self esteem, and whatever other traits society says are good. I'm not saying that it's not a good thing if a child does have a stable home, but I don't agree that children who don't have this are not going to develop these same traits on their own. Sure, I think that parents are responsible, and I think that too many neglect that responsibility, through divorce and otherwise. (Not that divorce is always wrong either.) But a child's happiness, etc. does not depend on the attention of two parents. There are a lot of happy single-parent (by choice and otherwise) families out there. In fact, I don't believe that every child's happiness and self esteem depend on the attention of even one parent, (although it certainly does vary from child to child.) cheers - elizabeth g. purtell (Lady Godiva)