[extropy-chat] Parenting (was change of topic)

MB mbb386 at main.nc.us
Thu Jan 13 22:49:58 UTC 2005


On Wed, 12 Jan 2005, Olga Bourlin wrote:

> From: "MB" <mbb386 at main.nc.us>

>
> > Putting little ones to work with us ASAP is fine, however our friendly
> > government is kinda frowning on that nowadays. It is, IMO, part of
> > parenting, training the young to work, to be contributing parts of the
> > family, to be personally responsible. Currently (at least in the USA)
> > personal responsibility is greatly underrated!
>
> I'm not sure to what you are referring.  I never imputed that I thought
> children should work (the way some of them used to work before child labor
> laws were instituted) - I said IMO it was good policy for *adult women* to
> be self-supporting.

My confusing response. I lumped your email and Samantha's email on the
same subject.

In olden times children worked at home, either really *working* as on
farms, or doing "chores" around the house (which IM experience was
mostly make-work). This could assuage some of the work involved with
parenting - although I think S and I were talking past each other a
bit.

Then Kevin added that children still were allowed to work for the
family business.

But to me even these do not alleviate the 24/7 responsibility of
parents.  *Especially when children are young.*


>
> Somewhat related to the subject we've been discussing, what do you think of
> this latest Maureen Dowd column?:
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/13/opinion/13dowd.html?oref=login&hp

That's an old tune that's been played before. IMHO there is some truth
in it. Quite sad.  Some men feel threatened by smart successful women,
some men do not.

There's a lot to be said for a loving heart and gentle demeanor. It's
easier to live with, much of the time.

Perhaps (some? many? most?) smart women who are successful in the
business world are more "pushy"? It's hard to turn off the work
persona at 5 PM. Maybe men feel pushed at work and do not want to feel
pushed at home.

Regards,
MB





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