colonel@gloria.UUCP (George Sicherman) (05/13/84)
[such were the joys ... ] So what if the kids grow up and move out before you know it? Not everybody likes their kids and want to spend their whole lives with them. That's what spouses are for. Too many parents are trying to love their children. -- Col. G. L. Sicherman ...seismo!rochester!rocksvax!sunybcs!gloria!colonel
maggie2@iwpba.UUCP (05/14/84)
"So what if the kids grow up and move out before you know it? Not everybody likes their kids and want to spend their whole lives with them. That's what spouses are for. Too many parents are trying to love their children." Then what's the point in having kids if you don't like them?!? I feel really sorry for a child with a parent who feels this way!
lied@ihlts.UUCP (Doctor Bob) (05/15/84)
>> "So what if the kids grow up and move out before you know it? Not >> everybody likes their kids and want to spend their whole lives with >> them. That's what spouses are for. >> >> Too many parents are trying to love their children." > Then what's the point in having kids if you don't like them?!? > I feel really sorry for a child with a parent who feels this > way! Well, in an ideal world, parents and children are just the best of buddies. In THIS world, however, it sometimes turns out that your kids (or your parents) are not people you really care to associate with. Junior doesn't live up to expectations, or Suzie has strange ideas about worshipping reptiles, and by the time they hit 18 you're just happy to see them go. It happens. And there often isn't any point in having kids. People do it because it's the traditional thing to do, or more often, by accident. And after a couple of years, they find that it doesn't bring a constant, wonderful sense of well-being and inner peace, so they ship 'em off to school and wish 'em well, and get on with their lives. No biggie. It doesn't make them ogres, just people who made a mistake, made the best of it, and are happy to wash their hands of it. And it doesn't make the kids poor deprived emotional cripples who are destined to rape and pillage because of their childhood trauma. They'll get by quite well, thank you, without your sorrow. So don't get all upset because a few people try to be realistic and admit that they don't really care too much about their closest kin. We can't choose our relatives, and if they don't appeal to us, then there's no point in driving yourself crazy with guilt, or bending over backwards to appease them. Be civil, make the best of it, and get on with your life. Bob Lied ihnp4!ihlts!lied