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Ponderings
Nov. 11th, 2005 12:28 pmWell, the interesting case of Ms Axton, a single mother of 5 (apologies for the Daily Mail style there), who is demanding the right to know whether her underage daughter is having se/x is something I’ve been pondering on, primarily because it strikes me that this woman has way too much time on her hands, really, and would be better served in building a relationship with her children, so that they would want to volunteer the information to her, rather than gum up the courts with a desire to press her demands on controlling her childrens lives. I cannot help but imagine the scene at home:
Mother: You're having se/x aren't you!
Daughter: I'm not telling. You cant make me! I've got the right to privacy!
Mother: That’s what you think, young lady! You get right back here this instant and answer my question or I’m calling the press to start a campaign to change the law!
And so on.
Hyperbole aside, I dont really know how I feel about this - I mean, as someone who has parents who went absolutely f**king mental when they heard that my 19 year-old sister was having se/x at university, quoted the bible at her then threw her out of the house (quite literally onto the street) & spent the next few months contacting the university demanding that she be removed from her course for "immoral behaviour". As such, I am of the opinion that parents are not necessarily the best people to be involved in the first place, mainly because they’re too close to the problem; whatever their reaction – either good or bad – I would imagine that they will have problems being objective. I think that I would.
But should parents have no rights at all? Especially for under-age children? Whilst it strikes me as being the logical conclusion, its so cold & impersonal that it doesn’t sit well with my woolly-liberal sentiments. But is her mother going to provide her with appropriate advice & guidance? And just what is good advice in this matter? Should it be purely factual? Moral? Religious? A citizenship ceremony where they give you a sermon on “how you should live your life, find a life-long partner, settle down & procreate for the state?”, & give you a certificate? Or perhaps “here’s a con/dom, here’s how it works, go on, have fun, we’ll be here to pick up the pieces if it all goes wrong”…?
So, on balance, I just don’t know …
S
PS the random ‘/’ were included as I was writing this from my work machine
Mother: You're having se/x aren't you!
Daughter: I'm not telling. You cant make me! I've got the right to privacy!
Mother: That’s what you think, young lady! You get right back here this instant and answer my question or I’m calling the press to start a campaign to change the law!
And so on.
Hyperbole aside, I dont really know how I feel about this - I mean, as someone who has parents who went absolutely f**king mental when they heard that my 19 year-old sister was having se/x at university, quoted the bible at her then threw her out of the house (quite literally onto the street) & spent the next few months contacting the university demanding that she be removed from her course for "immoral behaviour". As such, I am of the opinion that parents are not necessarily the best people to be involved in the first place, mainly because they’re too close to the problem; whatever their reaction – either good or bad – I would imagine that they will have problems being objective. I think that I would.
But should parents have no rights at all? Especially for under-age children? Whilst it strikes me as being the logical conclusion, its so cold & impersonal that it doesn’t sit well with my woolly-liberal sentiments. But is her mother going to provide her with appropriate advice & guidance? And just what is good advice in this matter? Should it be purely factual? Moral? Religious? A citizenship ceremony where they give you a sermon on “how you should live your life, find a life-long partner, settle down & procreate for the state?”, & give you a certificate? Or perhaps “here’s a con/dom, here’s how it works, go on, have fun, we’ll be here to pick up the pieces if it all goes wrong”…?
So, on balance, I just don’t know …
S
PS the random ‘/’ were included as I was writing this from my work machine