Musings on Parenthood
I recently read this article in the New Yorker and it really gave me pause as to how we perceive our role as parents and all of the stigma and nonsense there is over it.
It also ties into a message board thread, (on parenting, no less) where one participant was decrying the Duggar family, (the family who has 18 kids) and going on and on about how the older children are abused because they have to care for their younger counterparts. Yes, heaven forbid a child have to have any responsibility before they become an adult.
Honestly, it wasn’t that long ago, give or take 100 years, that we all lived pretty much like the Duggars. We had large families. We didn’t rely on others to sustain us. We gained all the experience we needed to raise children later in life, by caring for siblings and cousins and other extended family.
Yes, believe it or not, there used to not be a book called, “What to Expect when You’re Expecting”. Why? Because you knew what to expect. You had seen several farm animals, a sister, and maybe your own mother give birth. You didn’t need to have a class on how to bathe, bundle and diaper your baby, because you already knew how.
There weren’t vast forums of discussions on bottle vs. breast, or cloth vs. disposable, or SAHM or WOHM, because there wasn’t a need for it. Not that I’m not glad for choice, it’s all the of uneccessary guilt piled atop your head if you choose the wrong one. And, believe me, someone will tell you that you have.
There was no need for MOPS or Mom’s Day Out or any of that because you were surrounded by community!
I only wish that the young mother’s of today had such an upbringing in a loving community of family and church so that they didn’t feel so lost and alone. I know the terrible feeling of isolation and alone-ness that having children brings and I sometimes can’t help but wish I lived in the times of my great grandmother. Except I would like to keep the Internet.
