Monday, September 8, 2008

Updated from David Code

David Code got some additional coverage from the Wall Street Journal for his recent article on marriage and children. Very interesting. http://blogs.wsj.com/juggle/2008/09/08/put-your-spouse-first-have-happier-kids/

1 comment:

Henry Su said...

David,

From my lay perspective (not being clergy, counselor or psychiatrist), I think the article tends to oversimplify complex issues of marriage and parenting into a binary choice: pay attention to the kids or pay attention to the marriage. I understand that this may not be your original intent because the article underwent some cutting before it went online. As it reads, however, the article seems to be more an opinion about marriage, and less one about parenting.

There are plenty of reasons beyond the health of the marital relationship why children may grow up to be spoiled, self-absorbed consumers. Parents today literally have their hands full dealing with all of these reasons (e.g., video games, cell phones, cyber-bullying). Also, parents--whether married, separated, divorced, same-sex--can set good examples for their children in their interpersonal relationships not only with each other, but also with family members (e.g., in-laws), neighbors, coworkers and even strangers.

As you have noted to Ray, we can agree to disagree on touchy issues like staying married. My comment here is not intended to espouse a particular viewpoint. Rather, I hope we can more readily agree that marriage and parenting are both complex issues that impact our social fabric, and while they may overlap in some fundamental respects, there is not a simple one-to-one correlation between the two.

Regards, Henry Su