"Called to Eternal Life": Babies and Rights

Fr. James V. Schall, S.J.

Dr. J's favorite quote:

Our culture rejects, for the most part, the best and most exalted way in which
children should come among us. Thus, we have a society filled with
people who have not known what was naturally due to them. That is, each
child is to be born in a home in which each child has a father and a mother who
begot him and accepted him in love and generosity as a gift they did not plan or
devise. The actual child was not even in the thoughts of parents, whose
attention was on each other. Yet, they were prepared and happy to accept that
their relation naturally led to something beyond themselves, something seen in
the faces of their own children.

http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2009/schall_rightsbabies_sept09.asp

Damage control for teens of divorce

Mark Gregston
When parents split up, it can cause a number of problems in the life of their children; especially if the children are in the pre-teen or teen years. I would never say divorce is responsible for every problem for the kids from split families who come to our teen-counseling program at Heartlight, but it is a major factor for many. Divorce piles on emotional problems for a teen a little higher than there would normally be for an already emotional adolescent.

While there is no real way to fix the problems that divorce can bring into a teen's life, there are ways to do damage control to help them through one of the most painful experiences they will ever encounter. Since half of all marriages end on divorce, I thought it may be helpful to provide a few ways for the parents to address the after-effects of divorce on a teenager. It can help them better deal with the hand they were dealt.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Perspectives/Default.aspx?id=675470

De Facto Parents

Now children can have multiple legal parents without biology, adoption, or marriage.
By William C. Duncan

In his 1988 book Silent Revolution, Herbert Jacob described how one of the most significant changes to family law in the 20th century, no-fault divorce, began in California and spread through the states with very little public debate or controversy. This remarkable transformation was presented, and largely accepted, as routine policymaking in the domain of legal experts.

Similarly, a revolution in the legal understanding of parenthood seems to have quietly begun with little or no public debate or discussion. This dramatically transformative development is the statutory recognition of “de facto” parenthood — the notion that an unrelated individual (usually the unmarried partner of a biological parent, but potentially any adult) can be designated as the legal “parent” of a child by virtue of an agreement with a biological or adoptive parent, or even just a relationship with the child. In some cases, three or more people may be designated “parents” of the same child. While a handful of state courts have endorsed the idea in the context of disputes between same-sex couples jointly raising children, not until very recently has a legislature endorsed it.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YzcwZjA0ODk2NzM2NzY4N2IyYTQwYmY1NGQ3NGUyODc

Parenting pathways

Carolyn Moynihan

If your parents were negative and harsh with you growing up, that’s theway you will be with your kids. And if they were positive andaffectionate, well, lucky for your kids. That’s the assumption behind apopular theory of parenting, but researchers who have done long-termstudies say it’s wrong. Read more...

The UN’s sex-ed plan for kids

Carolyn Moynihan

Some years ago I saw a cartoon whose subject becomes more real by the day. It showed a Brave-New-Wold nursery in which newborns were being instructed via a loudspeaker: “Today you will be going home, but before you go, here is your first sex education lesson...” I was reminded of it by a Fox News report of a new universal sex-ed curriculum from UNESCO.

The UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation has decided that, “in a world affected by HIV and AIDS”, it is “imperative” to teach children as young as 5 about masturbation as well as “gender roles, stereotypes and gender-based violence”.

http://www.mercatornet.com/family_edge/view/the_uns_sex-ed_plan_for_kids/

All shall be poor

Barbara Kay

How today’s sexual narcissists insist on propagating their dreary values.

A hot new must-read book making the rounds is Frenchwoman Corinne Maier's No Kids: Forty Good Reasons Not To Have Children. Having read her embarrassingly superficial Maclean's interview and perused the jejune list of what constitutes "reasons" for Maier --kids cut into your "fun," kids are "conformists" --I'll pass on actually reading the book. Yet, because it would seem there was both money and celebrity to be gleaned from time Maier might otherwise have idly frittered away in an afternoon nap, I'm tempted to give the idea a whirl myself.

http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/all_shall_be_poor/

U.N. Agency Calls for Teaching Children 5-to-8 Years of Age about Masturbation

By Christopher Neefus

(CNSNews.com) – A June report from the United Nations Economic, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) suggests children of all countries and cultures are entitled to sexual and reproductive education beginning at age five. The report, called International Guidelines on Sexual Education, was released in June in conjunction with the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), an organization which works for universal access to “reproductive health care.”

http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=52988

What the Experts Are Saying Now

The most recent research in child development. Among the findings: 4-year-olds lie once an hour.

By KAY HYMOWITZ
For more than a century American parents—ever more distanced from grandmothers and ­suspicious of tradition—have looked to social ­science to explain their children to them. Thus they have gobbled up books and articles by experts who ­periodically deliver the latest truths about ­child-rearing. Back in 1945, when Dr. Spock published his "Baby and Child Care," readers' devotion to expert opinion was so intense that he began his book with the reassuring words: "Trust yourself." Not that he ­believed it. The book was jammed with advice.

Now, in "NurtureShock," Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman survey the newest new findings about child development. Little in the book is all that shocking, but given our enthusiasm for turning tentative child ­research into settled policy, the studies that the ­authors discuss are of more than passing interest.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203706604574371422231600220.html

Art galleries that don’t respect children

Carolyn Moynihan

Is it safe to take your children to an art gallery these days? A writer complains in the New York Times about taking his twin boys, aged 7, to one of his favourite galleries and running into an exhibition with “graphic images”. The name, “And/Or”, provided no clue to the genitalia displayed; the warning sign at the entrance was in very small print.

http://www.mercatornet.com/family_edge/view/art_galleries_that_dont_respect_children/

Children are worth having

Barbara Lilley

Are people who have children selfish? Would the world be better off if more of us were childless?

In an August 3, 2009 Maclean's Magazine article, “No Kids, No Grief”, author Anne Kingston takes a look at what appears to be a growing and vocal section of society – people who have decided against having children.
The reasons for refusing to procreate seem to run along the lines of the following: it's better for the environment, children are expensive, having them means you have to give up some material things you'd rather not and my personal favourite, childless marriages are far happier.

http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/children_are_worth_having/

American Babies Are Ruining Everything

WILLIAM MCGURN
The truth is more brains will likely mean cleaner energy technologies.

Forget about the birthers, and the nutty claims that Barack Obama was not born in the United States.
More and more, we are hearing from people who might best be described as anti-birthers. Their claims have nothing to do with long- versus short-form Hawaiian birth certificates. Instead, they advance a simple proposition: that the birth of each additional American child is a kind of calamity for the environment.
The most recent example of anti-birth thinking comes from Paul Murtaugh and Michael Schlax of Oregon State University. In a study called “Reproduction and the carbon legacies of individuals,” they suggest that if you truly care about the environment, it’s not enough to trade your SUV for a Prius, use the right lightbulbs, or limit your lawn to organic fertilizers. To the contrary, you need to start thinking about something way more important: i.e., having one less child.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204313604574328823712388930.html

A parent's guiding influence

Mark Gregston
A parent's desire to hold on to a child's innocence in his early years is normal and necessary. Early childhood is obviously not the right time for them to know certain things. But kids today are exposed to negative influences at earlier and earlier ages, and it is often out of a parent's control.
Age 16 used to be the benchmark for teens. It was the age most could begin to drive, and when given a set of car keys, the influence a parent has on how much of the world their teen experiences changes dramatically. But today, a younger teen has the keys to "drive" on over to some of the seediest places on earth, with the click of a mouse button. The Internet has changed everything.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Perspectives/Default.aspx?id=640998

Families gather around TV to do their own thing

Carolyn Moynihan
Electronic media, once a force for togetherness as whole families gathered around the radio or television, are now pulling families apart, according to a report from the UK’s communication’s regulator, Ofcom.

James Thickett, Ofcom’s director of market research, said: “What we find is that there has been a trend for people to converge on the living room, to watch the 37in high-definition television, but when they get there they start to do something else like surf the internet as well.”

http://www.mercatornet.com/family_edge/view/families_gather_around_tv_to_do_their_own_thing/

Lead us not into temptation…

Carolyn Moynihan

In a refreshing change from research that looks for excuses for everyday vices in people’s genes or family background, a study from the Kellogg School of Management looks at things like temptation, willpower and humility (yes, really) in impulsive and addictive behaviour.
Previous research has shown that people in a “cold state” (not experiencing hunger, anger, sexual arousal and so on) tend to underestimate how a “hot”, impulsive state will influence their behaviour.
The new study led by Loran Nordgren confirmed that, and also found that those who are most confident about their self-control are the most likely to give into temptation.
“People are not good at anticipating the power of their urges, and those who are the most confident about their self-control are the most likely to give into temptation,” said Nordgren. “The key is simply to avoid any situations where vices and other weaknesses thrive and, most importantly, for individuals to keep a humble view of their willpower.”

http://www.mercatornet.com/family_edge/view/lead_us_not_into_temptation/

A daring Baltic ban on gay propaganda

Bryan P. Bradley

A new Lithuanian law aims to protect minors from information that could be harmful to them.
Lithuania’s parliament found energy this month not only for budget cuts to keep a financial crisis at bay but also for a strong stand on family values which challenges the status quo in the European Union and has sparked an uproar in the international community. Lawmakers in the Baltic nation’s 141-member chamber on July 14 voted 89-6 to adopt a Law on the Protection of Minors, which limits the propagation of information that could be harmful to young people. Alongside examples like graphic violence, instructions on how to make explosives, presentation of drug use in a positive light and pornography, the law also restricts information “which promotes homosexual, bisexual, and polygamous relations."

http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/a_daring_baltic_ban_on_gay_propaganda/

Newsweek: 'Traditionalists better get used to' polyamory

Colleen Raezler - Guest Columnist -

Editor's Note: This commentary contains descriptions that some readers may find offensive.

According to Newsweek, polyamory is here to stay and "the traditionalists had better get used to it." Polyamory, reporter Jessica Bennett explained in her July 29 article, is the act of "engaging in loving, intimate relationships with more than one person – based upon the knowledge and consent of everyone involved."

While Bennett acknowledged that keeping track of multiple partners' (and their partners') needs and wants isn't for everybody, she concluded, "perhaps the practice is more natural than we think: a response to the challenges of monogamous relationships, whose shortcomings – in a culture where divorce has become a commonplace – are clear."
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Perspectives/Default.aspx?id=625368

New Zealand parents reject smacking ban

Carolyn Moynihan

The Great Smacking Debate is in full flight in New Zealand where a lawchange two years ago specifically banned the use of “force” for thepurpose of correcting children. Opponents of the new law collectedenough signatures to secure a referendum on the smacking issue, whichtakes place next month. A New Zealand Herald poll last week shows that85 per cent of parents of young children plan to vote No on thequestion: “Should a smack as part of good parental be a criminaloffence in New Zealand?”

http://www.mercatornet.com/family_edge/view/new_zealand_parents_reject_smacking_ban/

Paternal and maternal ages at conception and risk of bipolar affective disorder in their offspring.

A consistent association between paternal age and their offspring's risk of schizophrenia has been observed, with no independent association with maternal age.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19627644?ordinalpos=2&itool=Email.EmailReport.Pubmed_ReportSelector.Pubmed_RVDocSum

a gross cohabiting couple

This is a prime example of why cohabiting is dangerous for children.
Headline:
3 children found starved in hotel bathroom
Officials say kids were so emaciated they threw up when first fed

If you've got the stomach for it:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32091786/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts
This is a prime example of why cohabiting is dangerous for children.

Balls bans children's 'gay' jibes as government cracks down on sexual bullying

What's next? Thought police nailing you if you look like you're thinking something against gay people?
The totalitarian impulse of the gay rights movement: school yard chatter is now subject to government regulation.

By Brendan Carlin
A fresh move to ban children from using the word 'gay' as an insult was made by Schools Secretary Ed Balls last night.
He said insults based on sexuality should be taken 'as seriously as racism'. His department is now set to publish new guidance to crack down on 'sexist and sexual' bullying.
But Tory MP Philip Davies condemned Mr Balls for producing 'more politically-correct nonsense'.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1197549/Balls-bans-childrens-gay-jibes-government-cracks-sexual-bullying.html