I don't think Hillary's It Take a Villiage to Raise a Child book was meant to disparage or dismiss fathers. It simply talked about how a whole community of people influence children as they're growing up. That's very true. I know I was influential in other kids' lives not only when I was a teacher but also as the mother of one of their friends. I don't find Hillary an idiot. She's clearly been a good mother to her own child, and I admire the way she worked through some very public difficulties in her own marriage and hung in there.

I agree that the divorce rate is ridculous. But I can't deny, as someone who's been married for 22 years, that it's not sometimes very tough. There are times when it'd be much easier to give up, and I think that's why so many people make choice to throw in the towel. Because it's just the easiest solution.

Divorce does damage children. It puts them at greater risk of poverty, crime, and dropping out of school. Makes many of them shy of commitment when they're adults. Boys greatly depend on resident fathers to teach them to be gentlemen and providers--and to model how to respect and treat women. And girls need fathers present in the house to learn that they have some value in men's eyes--and not necessarily just meaningless sexual value, which, as adolescents, they'll often go out seeking from the first available males when dad's not present in their lives.

Have you ever heard Dr. Laura Schlesinger on this subject? I think she's frequently bad-mannered and sometimes gives short shrift to psychological motivations behind people's behaviors. Often her callers are terminally stupid to begin with. But I agree with most of her attitudes about the importance of maintaining a stable, two-parent home for kids. And I think she hits a lot of valid points in her book The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands, too.

Divorce was uncommon among the circle of adults I knew when I was growing up in the 60s and 70s, too. My parents married young and have been married for 51 years, and both sets of my grandparents had marriages that lasted for more than 63 years. I'm certain the long-term examples they modeled have helped me keep hanging in there in my own marriage.

Oh well, we're not going to solve this tonight. But it's been a fun discussion, hasn't it? Hope you have a good Friday, Breukelen!
birdgirl73 Reviewed by birdgirl73 on . A good question. Someone posed a question to me and others as to what should be done,if anything, to straighten out the American GOV. As complex as the question is, as there are so many angles to come from, ill start the conversation by giveing my input. I think first and foremost should be Election Reform. Big Bussiness needs to be out of American Politics. It creates biased situations based on greed and power, and in no small part is helping the shrinkage of the modern middle class. To accomplish Rating: 5