Theos-Talk Archives (April 1996 Message tl01264)

 Liesel writes>
>What makes you think parents have successfully raised their children in the
>past?
>
>I'm thinking of the 1800ds, when much city folks were so poor that the
>parents went to work, & the kids stayed in the streets by themselves. Some
>of them were taught to scavenge, and/or to steal, to add to the meager
>family income. [. . .]

[. . . .]

>Seems to me our kids are a bit better off today. Or let's say, at least we
>know something about how to raise children, if we'd only teach it to those
>who are too illiterate & unsophisticated to read up on it themselves.

Richard Ihle writes>
Some good observations, Liesel.

Jerry S. and I were probably talking more in the context of the "bureaucratic
child-rearing formulas" he and his wife have to work within, but it is
certainly true that all the children of the past have not been raised
successfully.

Nevertheless, as someone who has been in education for over three decades, I
still must agree whole-heartedly with Jerry that something very
UNPRECEDENTED--in terms of the number of children involved and the
seriousness of their problems--appears to be going on, now.

Therefore, I will probably have to reflect a little more on what you meant
by, "Seems to me our kids are a bit better off today. Or let's say, at least
we know something about how to raise children. . . ."

Most of the children in the U.S. are materialIy better off, of course, but I
am not sure who you mean by the *we* in the second sentence.  One thing Jerry
was saying is that the social-service's cohort of
 *we-who-think-we-know-something*'s can sometimes a big part of the problem.

But thanks for also reminding me about the children of the past who didn't
have it so good, either.

Godspeed,

Richard Ihle