Working Parents Raising Children

Garry Trudeau in his Doonesbury comic strip has been dealing, lately, with a problem that strikes home at parenting today. The problem is working parents.

I firmly believe that proper parenting requires one full-time parent. I mean a parent being with the child full time, school time excluded of course, imparting moral values and helping with schooling. The child is also entitled to the security and discipline (dirty word nowadays) that this relationship imparts.

As I look at the child-bearing couple today, I am impressed with their environmental and moral values. They’re much better educated along these lines than we were when we raised our children decades ago. (I’m sure I’ll get an argument from my peers on this.)

However, there are so many material things available today that are crying for the income of the young couple. The advertising media have done an excellent job of selling. The list of products is endless: fancy homes, cars, TVs, VCRs, computers, rec vehicles, motor boats, you name it.

To complicate matters, the very income of these parents is likely tied to these products.

But how many of these parents really believe that a baby sitter or a schoolteacher can substitute for the one-on-one relationship of a full-time parent?

How many of our youngsters who are into drugs, alcohol, smoking or who find themselves in a “family way” would be in the situation if they had full-time counseling at home?

How many young people are failing academically simply because a parent hasn’t the time to help with and see that homework is completed?

Is this old man being naive when he suggests that a full-time, one-on-one, proprietary teacher at home can do a better job than a baby sitter, for hire, or than a professional teacher, also for hire, with 30 or 40 pupils?

I know that children can be raised in a family with one parent working. My wife and I did it in tougher times than these. Admittedly, she worked harder than I, but she has a lot to show for it today: five beautiful adults, which we both enjoy.

If you parents out there do not get your priorities set right, then I and the state may have to institutionalize or support your offspring! It’s clearly the parent’s responsibility and I am old-fashioned enough to think that you can do it better than the state.

HIRAM H. SWALLOW

Newhall