Well, it has happened. I’ve been censored. No, the Associated Press or Blog Police haven’t caught up with me. It’s my husband. My dear pig-farmer. I wasn’t censored because I was inaccurate. I was censored because he didn’t want me to shake a hornets’ nest.
I knew when I wrote a blog (not-yet-published) about the “Disintegration of Dads” I would have to let him read it before I posted it. Darn it. Mind you, I was not being negative about him in anyway. I was, as he said, “very honest” about what I perceive to be the sad state of the division of parenting in the case of divorce. He wants to ponder the blog more. Darn it.
I do not believe all divorced parents parent badly. I do not believe all married parents parent well. I do see that too often a divorced dad, non-custodial, gets the short end of the parenting stick. They are to provide money. Period.
Oh wait…provide money and shut-up. I’m not good at the shutting-up part.
It makes me angry. I believe it is affecting our society in a negative way. I believe in the institution of DAD. Kids need to have limits and boundaries. It is okay to know that the buck stops somewhere. I was raised during a time period when it was perfectly acceptable to say, “My Dad (or parents) won’t let me do (or go) _____________.” How unreasonable of them. When I did get to go/do, it was perfectly, predictably, acceptable (although not always appreciated) of my parents to check up on me and/or expect information. Not cooperating was, of course a possibility. Just not a very smart one. It had consequences. Consequences I didn’t like. Consequences that most assuredly violated my privacy and free-will.
Ask someone that has been in the school system for 30 years if they have noticed a change or shift. Ask them if it has been positive or negative. Ask what they attribute it to (in addition to “teaching to the test”).