Controversial
Grady and I made our first trip to the public library this morning. I love our little library, though it drives me bonkers. I'm assuming it has a great children's section because the adult section is seriously neglected. They don't get new titles for a seriously long time.
I digress.
So we went to the library today. He did well. I don't want to have a screaming baby in the reference section, you know? But we made it through without any breakdowns. I picked up The Happiest Baby on the Block, Raising Unselfish Children in a Self-Absored World, and for kicks, Stupid Things Parents do to Mess up Their Kids. Naturally, I'm reading "Stupid" first.
So far, it's about what you'd expect. Pretty hard line, a parent should be home with your child at all times, available at all times, and any other family other than the nuclear one is bad. To which I say, any permanent, consistent family is better than multiple foster care families.
I read the reviews of this book over at good reads, and one of them made a lot of sense. Dr. Laura bemoans those that put their children in daycare, as if this is a new idea for some paid person to watch peoples children. But really it's not. For eons, rich people had wet nurses, nannies, governesses, etc. Only the poor had to raise their own kids, and those poor kids had to get jobs pretty early on. So, to paraphrase from the commentor, what Dr. Laura is really complaining about is the disappearance of the middle class as either people become richer or poorer.
Anyway she makes some good points about adults needing to make sacrifices for their children and not the other way around. But there's a lot to disagree with too.
She makes good points about the dinner table having disappeared, and that feminism and others have marginalized the role of the father. I've said before I do think we outsource the care of our children for the sake of nicer cars and more vacations. But I also know that some people are able to provide better lives (and educations) for their children by having duel incomes, and some people really couldn't make it on a single salary. And really, in today's reality people carry so much debt that they have to have duel income, or they would go bankrupt. And that would serve no one.
I'm barely into this book so there's probably at least six more posts at least that could come from it. I think she, and others, write books that are so one sided in order to drum up controversy and sell more books.
Whatever pays for her kids college, right?
I digress.
So we went to the library today. He did well. I don't want to have a screaming baby in the reference section, you know? But we made it through without any breakdowns. I picked up The Happiest Baby on the Block, Raising Unselfish Children in a Self-Absored World, and for kicks, Stupid Things Parents do to Mess up Their Kids. Naturally, I'm reading "Stupid" first.
So far, it's about what you'd expect. Pretty hard line, a parent should be home with your child at all times, available at all times, and any other family other than the nuclear one is bad. To which I say, any permanent, consistent family is better than multiple foster care families.
I read the reviews of this book over at good reads, and one of them made a lot of sense. Dr. Laura bemoans those that put their children in daycare, as if this is a new idea for some paid person to watch peoples children. But really it's not. For eons, rich people had wet nurses, nannies, governesses, etc. Only the poor had to raise their own kids, and those poor kids had to get jobs pretty early on. So, to paraphrase from the commentor, what Dr. Laura is really complaining about is the disappearance of the middle class as either people become richer or poorer.
Anyway she makes some good points about adults needing to make sacrifices for their children and not the other way around. But there's a lot to disagree with too.
She makes good points about the dinner table having disappeared, and that feminism and others have marginalized the role of the father. I've said before I do think we outsource the care of our children for the sake of nicer cars and more vacations. But I also know that some people are able to provide better lives (and educations) for their children by having duel incomes, and some people really couldn't make it on a single salary. And really, in today's reality people carry so much debt that they have to have duel income, or they would go bankrupt. And that would serve no one.
I'm barely into this book so there's probably at least six more posts at least that could come from it. I think she, and others, write books that are so one sided in order to drum up controversy and sell more books.
Whatever pays for her kids college, right?
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