🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <318A537C.7F39@melvin.silas.unsw.edu.au>,
KAREN BERZIN  <s-berzin@melvin.silas.unsw.edu.au> wrote:
>Marguerite Petersen wrote:
>> 
>> Yup, that it does and is, IMO.  There are simply NO guarantees as to
>> how one's children will turn out.  It DOES behoove any parent, however,
>> to provide as much intelligence, skill, love and attention to their
>> children as they can possibly manage.  It can't hurt and it might
>> actually help.  Course, a little understanding helps as well.
>> 
>> I agree, lots of people get a REAL SHOCK WHEN THE SHILD IS ACTUALLY BORN 
>AND BECOMES THEIR SOLE RESPONSIBILITY.  

Yup.  Most definitely!!!  And even worse if that child just *happens*
to be NOT a "textbook" child.  My first child WAS a textbook child;
he did everything about a week after the *book* said he would. :-)
Our second child, however, was another story entirely.  HE was an
ADD child and we certainly had to make some adjustments.  Boy, did
we ever!  

Personall I think it's OK not to 
>have children if you don't want to.  There shouldn't be an onligation to 
>reproduce: some people are good at parenting and some aren't.  Like most 
>things in life.  Maybe, if we all understood more about ourselves and 
>didn't let convention dictate to us then we wouldn't see so many used, 
>abused, neglected and destroyed children.

I most definitely agree!  Having children *should* be something that
people are prepared to do (at least as much as is possilbe prior to
actual parenthood), as well as desiring to be parents above all else.
And certainly, knowing one's own personal strengths and weaknesses
prior to becoming a parent is immensely helpful when/if one becomes
a parent.  It should NOT be something that is undertaken lightly, nor
without a LOT of prior thought and consideration.  And most definitely
NOT simply because one believes one *ought* to be a parent.  

Marg


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