Parenting - links
Economist: Why conservatives are happier than liberals
The joys of parenthood
Mar 27th 2008
From The Economist print edition
Why conservatives are happier than liberals
Illustration by Kevin Kallaugher
IN EVERY nursery there is one child known as the Biter. Who suffers the most from this child’s delinquency? Not his classmates, whose bite marks quickly heal. It is the Biter’s mum and dad, who endure sideways glances from other parents when dropping him off in the morning and fret constantly that their own poor parenting has produced a monster.
Arthur Brooks was once the father of a Biter. For a year, his son gnawed on boys, girls, siblings, friends and so many guests that he had to be removed from his own fourth birthday party. Mr Brooks worried, argued with his wife, lost sleep and sought professional help. So he speaks from experience when he says that having children does not make you happy.
Apr 7, 2008
Topic: Family, Parenting, Citizenship, Social Issues
UK: Eco-friendly? Get sterilized…
UK Daily Mail
Meet the women who won’t have babies – because they’re not eco friendly
By NATASHA COURTENAY-SMITH and MORAG TURNER
Last updated at 22:05pm on 21st November 2007
Had Toni Vernelli gone ahead with her pregnancy ten years ago, she would know at first hand what it is like to cradle her own baby, to have a pair of innocent eyes gazing up at her with unconditional love, to feel a little hand slipping into hers – and a voice calling her Mummy.
But the very thought makes her shudder with horror.
Because when Toni terminated her pregnancy, she did so in the firm belief she was helping to save the planet.
Nov 27, 2007
Topic: Life, Abortion, Birth Control, Science, Environment
NOW PLAYING: Bella
Bella
Oct 27, 2007
Topic: Family, Parenting, Adoption, Pop Culture, Life, Abortion, Science, Bioethics
Gene Shopping? - Dallas Morning News
Dallas Morning News
David Brooks: America’s new pastime: gene shopping
About 40 percent say they’d use genetic engineering to upgrade their offspring
08:26 AM CDT on Saturday, June 16, 2007
At this very moment thousands of people are surfing the Web looking for genetic material so their children will be nothing like me. They are looking through files at sperm bank sites with Jetson-like names such as Xytex, which have become the new eBays for offspring.
Jun 18, 2007
Topic: Family, Children, Parenting, Life, Science, Bioethics
Study: Religion is Good for Kids
Live Science
By Melinda Wenner
Special to LiveScience
posted: 24 April 2007
09:39 am ET
Kids with religious parents are better behaved and adjusted than other children, according to a new study that is the first to look at the effects of religion on young child development.
The conflict that arises when parents regularly argue over their faith at home, however, has the opposite effect.
Apr 26, 2007
Topic: Faith, Apologetics, Family, Children, Parenting, Science
‘Fertility gap’ helps explain political divide
By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY
September 27, 2006
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, a Catholic mother of five from San Francisco, has fewer children in her district than any other member of Congress: 87,727.
Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, a Mormon father of eight, represents the most children: 278,398.
These two extremes reflect a stark demographic divide between the congressional districts controlled by the major political parties.
Republican House members overwhelmingly come from districts that have high percentages of married people and lots of children, according to a USA TODAY analysis of 2005 Census Bureau data released last month.
Sep 28, 2006
Topic: Family, Marriage, Parenting, Citizenship, Christian Citizenship, National, Social Issues
Abortion foes’ new rallying point - Contraception
By Judith Graham
Chicago Tribune staff reporter
Published September 24, 2006
Emboldened by the anti-abortion movement’s success in restricting access to abortion, an increasingly vocal group of Christian conservatives is arguing that it’s time to mount a concerted attack on contraception.
Sep 24, 2006
Topic: Family, Marriage, Parenting, Sexual Purity, Abstinence, Life, Citizenship, National
Marriage Gets the Silent Treatment
“You people need to address the problems of your families. The lack of fathers is at the heart of the ills you face,” spoke the patronizing white-haired, Caucasian minister. His intentions were great but in a myopic way, he had just looked past the problems of his own community and zeroed in on mine. He, like many others, dismissed the true national urgency around the soaring out-of-wedlock birthrates and genocidal abortion rates in the black community. He had distanced himself from these statistics by making them “a black problem.” As long as family breakdown is viewed as an ethnic or minority problem, the average American will not feel that he must address it.
Sep 19, 2006
Topic: Family, Marriage, Parenting, Citizenship, Social Issues
Marriage and the Public Good: Ten Principles
The “Ten Principles on Marriage and the Public Good” are the result of scholarly discussions that began in December, 2004 at a meeting in Princeton, New Jersey, sponsored by the Witherspoon Institute. This conference brought together scholars from History, Economics, Psychiatry, Law, Sociology and Philosophy to share with each other the findings of their research on why marriage is in the public interest. A consensus developed for sharing the fruit of their collaboration more widely.
Aug 15, 2006
Topic: Family, Marriage, Parenting, Sexual Purity, Homosexuality, Citizenship, Christian Citizenship, Social Issues, Issues
Science’s stem-cell scam - Washington Times
July 22, 2006 Washington Times Commentary by Michael Fumento.
“Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) receive tremendous media attention, with oft-repeated claims they have the potential to cure virtually every disease known. Yet there are spoilsports, myself included, who point out ESCs have yet to even make it into a human clinical trial. This is even as alternatives — adult stem cells (ASCs) from numerous places in the body as well as umbilical cord blood and placenta — are curing diseases here and now and have been doing so for decades. And that makes ESC advocates very, very angry.”
Jul 22, 2006
Topic: Family, Living, Health, Life, Stem-Cell Research, Citizenship, Legislation, Social Issues, Issues, Adoption