This magazine arrives in our mailbox four times a year; not because we subscribe but because we live in this community. We never sent our kids to public schools, choosing rather to educate them at home.
When I grabbed the mail and walked back to the house I had not even reached the front door before I saw the cover and was instantly grabbed by the image on the cover. I stepped into the house and asked, “What is wrong with this picture?” It didn’t take everyone long to say “No father.”
There are two other families shown in the brochure, and sure enough again, no father.
I am not suggesting these mothers are not heroic; maybe they made bad choices earlier in life and are now doing the best they can. Or, maybe they were dealt a bad hand coping, doing their best to raise their children alone. There will always be some single parent households for many reasons and we should love and support them all we can. But should we promote a fatherless family as the new normal? Is this what we think the family is today?
I wrote a blog a few days ago entitled, “What Happened to Detroit?” where I discuss the moral basis for the downfall of a once spectacular city. The fathers left and now 75% of the children are in one parent households. There is also a 50% illiteracy rate and boys look up to the pimps, drug lords and gangs as models and substitute families.
My heart goes out to these kids raised in “the new normal” which is leaving them scarred and inclined to perpetuate the same dysfunctional lifestyle with no idea or concept of the “normal normal.”
This Post Has 2 Comments
Steve,
I left you a note concerning this brochure. Check your other mail. I taught in YPS, now YCS for over 30 years. It is a sad commentary on the culture. I did call and point this out concerning the “no-dad” photos. This just hopes they listen.
Joan
This is not good. And I read recently that almost 75 percent of black children are born to single mothers. I used to be very liberal, and didn’t see the harm in raising children by yourself. Then, I was a single mother. In my experience, you develop a hair-trigger temper because it is stressful not being able to meet all the bills on your own. The kids act out, and sometimes they steal stuff, or in other ways. And, amazingly, I found out that many people see a single mother and her children as easy prey. I am now a married mother with four children. Our lives have changed so much for the better. And this is why I would like to stress that abortion is not the answer. Your life can change so much for the better if you hang in there. Having children in a married household gives the children many advantages, and so that is the ideal.
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