Suchergebnisse

The subject of parents and children is so immense and so much discussed that it takes a certain effrontery to write yet another article on it. I do, however, have a slightly original slant in that I am not concerned so much with how parents affect their children, but with the effects that children have on their parents.Practically everybody has strong impressions of their own parents, even if they are not parents themselves, so that everyone has some kind of experience of parent child relationships. Sometimes this experience leads to understanding and insight: sometimes it leads to distortion and bias. In order to move away from the sort of discussion that is either an exchange, or a confrontation of various people's experiences, I propose to use two different approaches. The first will try to elucidate the structure of the dominant contemporary mode of parents-children relationships. The second will examine alternative ways of viewing parent-child relationships.

It is argued that abortion is not a matter of convenience for women who intentionally became pregnant, but is a tragic attempt to escape from a desperate situation. As such, women in this situation must be offered real, compassionate, & better alternatives. The answer is not to lock the clinic door but to build a system of support from the mother-child dyad outward to all society, as some prolife organizations have already begun to do. Finding the prochoice discourse ironic in that there is really only one choice being offered, it is suggested that more attention should be given to maternity homes, adoption agencies, & other service organizations offering similar options. The contemporary challenge for prolifers is to begin to meet the needs of middle-class women age 20+ & to engage with such issues as a women's right to know what her options are, a child's need for financial support, & a new mother's relationship with her parents & employer. 4 Illustrations.