Palin

[NoHall]

THAT IS NOT WHAT I SAID AT ALL! My point is that being a mom, giving birth to a child with DS and going back to work 5 days later demonstrates a mother who values her position more than her children's needs. It has nothing to do with being a mom and having a career. I am all for that.

Parenthetical comment: I wonder what "going back to work" entails. I have friends who have gone "back to work" within a couple of days because they had spent the last 9 months being pregnant with other children clinging to their ankles, and work was the best way to run out of the house screaming for a couple of hours while Daddy held up the bottle for once. One of my best friends just had her third child and went back to her job as soon as she was cleared by her doctor--any objection to it from her hubby would have been grounds for divorce! (And she's an excellent mother.)

Families are hard. That's all there is to it.

 

[Chickpea]

Cil, I agree with you and DemoLady totally. Maybe Govervor Palin's attitude toward honest sex education in high school is partially to blame for her 17 year old daughter's pregnancy. I mean hormones are hormones, and we need to explain to kids what is actually happening in their own bodies and minds. Abstinence-only programs are the equivilent of loaded guns aimed directly at the youth of our nation. I had very explicit sex education taught to me in high school in the '60s and it kept me from making some very destructive mistakes that included waiting a little longer to engage in sexual activity. Burying your head in the sand won't accomplish the goal intended by the proponents of this policy...it is well proven that it only exacerbates the problem.

I intend talking to both my girls about sex and sex education by the time they are 9 so that they hear it from me and not in the deformed, twisted way that kids sometimes share info with each other. I personally would not leave it to the schools to teach it (but I support it being taught because too many parents will not broach the subject with their kids).

I think it is unfair to judge a parent's success or failure for the actions of a teen - I have seen to many examples of parents having tried very hard to instill excellent values into their kids but it not working.... I do not believe Palin should be judged for what her daughter did.....

 

[elgordoboy]

Yes it sounded very sexist to me, although obviously I realize you didn't intend it to be. We have no evidence that Sarah Palin is a bad mother. I just hope this election isn't "headed down that road".

That is called psycholgical projection-- in which one attributes one’s own unacceptable or unwanted thoughts or/and emotions to others (thanks wiki). I didn't get what you got from OM's comment, so I believe it says more about where your thoughts are in this matter.

I think keeping an eye out and pouncing on anything even vaguely sexist is important in light of how Hillary was treated by the main street media during her campaign.

Outrageous vigilantism!

 

[Chickpea]

Parenthetical comment: I wonder what "going back to work" entails. I have friends who have gone "back to work" within a couple of days because they had spent the last 9 months being pregnant with other children clinging to their ankles, and work was the best way to run out of the house screaming for a couple of hours while Daddy held up the bottle for once. One of my best friends just had her third child and went back to her job as soon as she was cleared by her doctor--any objection to it from her hubby would have been grounds for divorce! (And she's an excellent mother.)

Families are hard. That's all there is to it.

Or because they had no other option financially....

 

[idlewind]

Whether we like it or not, the fact is that women have a right to work, most families cannot exist without two incomes and many families face the unpleasant spector of a child with an unplanned pregnancy. What is refreshing about Gov. Pallin is that we now have at least one candidate in the race who can relate to how regular people face these issues. As far as I can find she is the least wealthy, was educated like the rest of us, has worked for what she has and has dealt with serious family issues head on. That is my kind of "experience.

 

[TooFarTampa]

Parenthetical comment: I wonder what "going back to work" entails. I have friends who have gone "back to work" within a couple of days because they had spent the last 9 months being pregnant with other children clinging to their ankles, and work was the best way to run out of the house screaming for a couple of hours while Daddy held up the bottle for once. One of my best friends just had her third child and went back to her job as soon as she was cleared by her doctor--any objection to it from her hubby would have been grounds for divorce! (And she's an excellent mother.)

Families are hard. That's all there is to it.

So true. There are many, many days I would be jealous of your friend.

I agree that we can't judge her parenting. We don't know what has happened in that family. I can say that if this happened to my daughter -- and it can happen to pretty much any parent -- I think I would decide to circle the wagons instead of charging ahead. Palin is very young, and has a lot of good work she could do. She could serve her term and run for Senate, get a better sense of Washington. She could let this storm pass and learn from it (any mom knows that she would learn a great deal from this situation).

Frankly I can't relate to her decision to move forward at this time, since things are going to be unimaginably difficult for the daughter. And the fact that many women are going to find it hard to relate to was apparently lost on the McCain camp. So it seems anyway.

I don't see this news as a political issue, but as an insight into a candidate we frankly don't know a lot about.

 

[wrobert]

Is it possible that Rove could be sending out "mind rays" over Fox News? It just seems that the more he talks, the more sense it makes to agree with him.

 

[Danny Burns]

I think keeping an eye out and pouncing on anything even vaguely sexist is important in light of how Hillary was treated by the main street media during her campaign.

I'm sorry you feel this is necessary. Sexism is a disease that can only be cured by men through serious changes of attitudes. Are you listening out there guys?

 

[Smiling JOe]

Yeah, but during that time, the teen years were more borderline adult years. Now, sociologically speaking, teen years are associated more closely with childhood and it's not until people are in their 20's that they get the chance to be considered adults.

I know what you are saying, but someone forgot to tell that to the physiological bodies of teens. Sex drive is much stronger than will power at such an age. Today's teens don't look like the teens when I was growing up -- must be all of the steroids in the chickens we eat. Mentally, these people are only kids because we don't expect more from a teenager. It is now illegal for a 13 year old kid to work in the US, but my grandmother was getting ready to raise a family not long after turning 13. I'd almost bet you that my grandmother's parents weren't thrilled with that idea either. They just accepted it.

ChickPea, don't wait til they are nine to begin introducing the talks. I was probably only in second grade when I started hearing about sex from a couple of my classmates -- The silly things they say. :funn: Maybe you just start with very vague big-picture topics at an earlier age, like the meaning, make-up and purpose of a family. By progressively introducing the topic, it won't be so difficult for you to talk about it at some magic age. The kids will likely be more understanding of it, rather than feeling weird about talking to their parents about it. My mom and dad never talked about it, don't even know how I was born, because I cannot imagine them having sex. :funn:If they had talked about it early enough, I wouldn't have thought that my classmates were right.

 

[Chickpea]

Whether we like it or not, the fact is that women have a right to work, most families cannot exist without two incomes and many families face the unpleasant spector of a child with an unplanned pregnancy. What is refreshing about Gov. Pallin is that we now have at least one candidate in the race who can relate to how regular people face these issues. As far as I can find she is the least wealthy, was educated like the rest of us, has worked for what she has and has dealt with serious family issues head on. That is my kind of "experience.

Read Obama's book Dreams from my Father - your description of Palin understanding others' struggles fit him like a glove.