From: Norma Jean <nsawicki>
Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 13:59:36 -0500

The postings regarding books about orphans have been interesting but there has sometimes been an underlying current that kids are always better off with parents/adults. Orphans have existed in this country from the start...women often died in child birth, sometimes a man's work or sensibility did not enable him to raise his children alone and they were farmed out to relatives or to folk who needed a helping hand. Some were dearly loved; others not. Many kids were orphaned during the Civil War, and in later years, the "orphan train riders," during the depression...kids sent to farms from the cities; some were well treated; others overworked and treated badly. The passage of the child labor laws was necessary in order to protect kids who were used/abused/ overworked in every part of this country, and in almost every industry from farming to work in factories. Some kids were badly injured due to accidents from work they were too young to do.

People inept to be parents exist today...the reasons are different, nor does it have anything to do with class or race. I am not, by any means, suggesting it is better for kids to be orphans or live on their own but there are certainly parents who should never have had children and their kids suffer in all sorts of ways as a result of it. The behavior/values regarding teenagers/kids among some parents in middle/upper middle class suburbs surrounding New York City that make the newspapers is mind boggling. Alcohol supplied by parents to underage kids for parties, among other things. Parenting is on the job training and while convention still dictates that people marry and have children, there is little education/awareness in the mass media, or anywhere else, about what it means to be a good parent. Overall, there is a reverence for parents as a group, that is not disserved. Norma Jean
Received on Wed 31 Aug 2005 01:59:36 PM CDT