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Frustrated Mom Creates ‘Ignore No More’ App To Get Teen Kids To Return Calls

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40hz:
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40hz: I agree with enough of what you've said that I think the disagreement hinges upon our opinions of exactly how draconian this app is, or could be.  In my opinion, not so much.  Perhaps we can agree to disagree?
-Edvard (August 19, 2014, 04:17 AM)
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Absolutely. We can always disagree and still remain respected friends. It'd be a very dull world if we all agreed 100% on everything. :)

And that's why we (ideally) will always have our Renegade(s). They make sure things don't get too dull on that score. ;) ;D

wraith808:
Because I have a deeper question: Why so?

Just what is it that makes someone who has done something they can claim very little (if any) direct credit for (i.e. biologically reproduce) feel they are automatically and absolutely qualified to raise a kid? There's this weird bit of knee-jerk magical logic that says "mother/father knows best." Even when it's quite obvious that approximately half of them do not.

How does that work?
-40hz (August 19, 2014, 06:01 AM)
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Are they responsible if the child does something wrong?  (Rhetorical question there... because the answer is yes, whether it is in the eyes of the public and/or legally).

So responsibility begets authority.  That's just how it works.  If you're going to hold the parent responsible if the child drives at age 13, then the parent has the authority to discipline and tell the child that he can't do this, and then take steps to make it so.  You can't have it both ways.

40hz:
So responsibility begets authority.  That's just how it works.
-wraith808 (August 19, 2014, 09:15 AM)
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It think what you're actually saying is that legal liability grants legal authority? Well...ok...mostly.

But that's not the question I was asking. I was wondering just what it is about the act of biological procreation that magically grants unassailable wisdom and the absolute knowing "what's best" for the living product of one's own sexual intercourse?

Would-be adoptive parents are screened and have their backgrounds checked. Some even are made to attend classes. But drop your own little darlin' and shazzaam! you automatically are held to "just know" how to raise her/him. Why is that? Or is it just that I can't see the 'unicorns and glitter' all those biological parents can see?

When Ren said earlier that:

But it's not up to you or me to determine when other people's children are ready to assume any given right or responsibility -- that is purely the domain of the parent. Not you. Not me. Not the state. Not media pundits. Parents. Only. Exclusively.
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My question is, exactly what makes natural parents automatically qualified to make such a decision. Because watching the parents in my decidedly upscale neck of the woods, I can assure you that a good many aren't much up to the task. A point with which many apparently agree considering the substantial number of them that farm out as much child rearing as possible to the school system, daycare providers, private nannies, and social activity groups.

So again:

If: "Parents. Only. Exclusively." :then: Why so?  :huh:

 :)

wraith808:
No... I meant responsibility.  It's much more than liability.  You spend X years and Y amount of money and an inestimable amount of blood, sweat, and tears on your progeny.  Now, personally, I think the nature of creating offspring creates a catch-22 in the fact that it is very easy to have a child, but not so much to raise one.  But even taking that out of the equation, until/unless you give away that responsibility, you're responsible.  And liable.

40hz:
Now, personally, I think the nature of creating offspring creates a catch-22 in the fact that it is very easy to have a child, but not so much to raise one.
-wraith808 (August 19, 2014, 12:47 PM)
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I think we can all agree with you on that.

The big problem is that the law (and most of our social institutions) make themselves wilfully blind on that point.

There's an assumption that "parents just know" what's best for their children. And that includes the right to ignore prenatal health considerations, the right to refuse to have a child vaccinated, the right to ignore proper nutrition (so long as you don't starve them to death), and the right to dump all your hangups and phobias on their innocent heads. Why? Because "you're the parent!" It's the law. It's the way things are. And it says so in holy writ...

So again, just what special magic makes a person automatically qualified to raise a child just by virtue of their contributing an egg or sperm cell to the equation?

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