Why Do Children Need Parents?

Conservatives have always said that Liberalism would destroy the Family. Today we can see the destruction for ourselves. We live in a time when people talk about children having three parents as if it's no big deal. It would be a rare person in the West who didn't know someone who was divorced or a child who was born out of wedlock. The Family which has existed for as long as human knowledge allows us to know is being destroyed right before our eyes. The times we live in are so bad that I feel I should put in writing a defence of why children need parents.

The times we live in are so bad I need to define the Family, the Family is not artificial, it is natural. The Family is a biological grouping, biological Father, biological Mother with their offspring, that is the Family. Any time the Family is defined as something else, that definition is wrong, it is that simple. Now in my experience someone will then bring up adoption, but Conservative's understand something that everyone seems very eager to forget and that is that an adoption is a tragedy. It means that a child has for whatever reason lost their parents and now must be cared for by someone else. Family is a celebration of life and the future, it is not a tragedy nor is it artificial.

Children have a right to be raised by their own parents and only death, illness or some other grave misfortune should change that. Only in the most extreme of circumstances should a parent and child be separated. A child should be raised by both a Mother and a Father because each parent provides things that only their sex can provide. Together they can combine their time, effect, resources, intellect and patience. Together they can rely on each other's strengths to cover the others weakness. Each brings something different to parenting.

Children need Mothers, Mothers pay attention to the little things, they look after the day to day as well as the minute to minute things that need to be done. They know all the little things that are important, who likes what and who, what time everything needs to be done. Mothers provide a loving and secure environment, looking after the physical and emotional needs of their children. They have the empathy that helps build a child's emotional future.

When things are put like that it makes it seem as if Fathers aren't really required, but.

Children need Fathers. Fathers don't pay much attention to the little things, instead they expand a child's world. They provide an environment in which children feel safe, a child looks at their Father as the biggest and strongest man in the world, who wouldn't feel safe living with such a man? Fathers push their children and expose them to new experiences and to a wider world. A world of laughter and teasing, of physical contests and of discipline.

Mothers teach softness, Fathers teach toughness, we need both.  

Now not all parents live up to these standards, people are of course individuals but in the main most parents do live up to these standards. Conservatives do not seek a perfect world with perfect people, what we want is for people to have the best life available to them. Of course people argue, of course they fight, of course they are nasty. Non of that is surprising, thats real life, because we understand that people are not perfect. But we do not need to reinvent the Family, it is not perfect nothing is but that doesn't mean it is not best, because it is best, the way nature intended.

Upon Hope - A Traditional Conservative Future
Another Article You Might Like?
The Loneliness Epidemic