The prompt was based on a reading based on this man, David Lykken's, theory that people should have to earn a license in parenting just like we earn a license to drive. One of the most interesting quotes of his I read was this: "For evoluntionary reasons, human beings are reluctant to interfere with the procreational rights of any person, no matter how immature, incompetent, or unsocialized he or she might be. In consequence human beings tend not to think about the rights of a child to a reasonable opportunity for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
Anyways, here was my post on the discussion board.
My first thought when I heard this discussion prompt, was to compare the reasons for having a license to raise a child to the reasons of licensing someone to drive a car. People must earn their driver’s license to prove they know how to drive correctly, right? To keep everyone safe on the roads: the driver, their passengers, neighboring vehicles and pedestrians. The license proves that they are knowledgeable of the different rules for the varying types of roads and environments in which they will travel on. It says they have studied the more effective tactics of how to react when the unexpected happens while driving, like if your breaks stop working or if your car begins sliding over a frozen patch of road.
Well why would someone suggest that one would need to be licensed in parenting? For the same reasons: protecting all parties involved, mainly the children. Requiring people to receive educational training to earn a license in parenting would prove that each person is knowledgeable of all a baby’s various needs, because obviously a baby can’t tell you itself in a direct way. It would give more confidence that a person could be depended on to make careful and reasonable choices when instinctively, their logic and reason should go out the window, such as 2am bottle feedings or nonstop crying fits keep them from getting enough sleep.
I think the suggestion to require a license logically makes sense, even if it stirs a large emotional reaction and controversy among the public. The emphasis we could place on a society if we had parental education available would be that children are more complex than you think, but that there is a formula to their complex nature that can help make raising them less stressful and impossible feeling at times. However, without requiring a license, it would be very hard to convince the majority of the population to take parenting classes. Even if people wanted to, for some, the priority would probably get pushed aside out of time conflicts or other inconveniences. Therefore, you would have to find another definitive reason for people to find these classes important. If not for the legal purpose, than perhaps a spiritual one. Spiritual communities often promote communal meetings and get-togethers for parents to share and observe the experiences of other couples with their children, usually to learn more about parenting as well as how to keep their own marriage strong in light of all the parental struggles. Whether it was through a faith-based community or not, the best way to reach the large masses is through their shared interests in order for them to discover a common purpose behind something. So I would begin programs or classes through different institutions such as places of worship, the public library, colleges/universities, or even a place of political gatherings, in order to instantaneously provide an understanding and more likely supportive community around them to participate with.
