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Parenting responsibilities

Posted on June 18, 2008, 9:09pm

The terrible news that 18-month-old twins were found dead, apparently from neglect, in a Brisbane house defies belief. A 28-year-old man and his 30-year-old partner have been charged with failing to provide the necessities of life.

The charges could be upgraded to murder.

An earlier court hearing was told that police found the bodies in a “state of decay” and the toddlers appeared to be malnourished.

It’s too easy for people to have children. It’s harder, in fact, to get a licence to drive a motor car.

Being a parent is just about the greatest responsibility most of us ever take on during our lives, yet girls can become mothers while teenagers and the government hands them a wad of cash.

You need to be 18 years old to drink in a bar or watch a restricted movie. You need to be 18 to vote.

You need to pass an examination to drive a vehicle, but nobody tests your capability to be a parent.

Sadly, it seems in many cases that people who are unsuitable to be parents are more likely to become parents.

Not all families in lower socio-economic brackets are dysfunctional, of course. There are numerous examples though of cases where children are born to disadvantage that goes beyond poverty. Their lives are riddled with drugs, alcohol, abuse and broken relationships.

Many children are born into generational welfare and their prospects of escaping the cycle are very limited.

These comments are not intended to advocate removing the children or any other radical solution. We need a proper debate however, about reinforcing to parents the responsibilities they assume by procreating.

We have a citizenship test. How about a parenting test? Twenty simple questions. Fail the test twice and face some interventionist consequences.

MICHAEL GOREY

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Comments

One Response to “Parenting responsibilities”

  1. Soapbox Sally on June 26th, 2008 1:55 pm 1

    In reference to recent events regarding the welfare of children, What ever happened to: It takes a village to raise a child? And as for the putrid state of the dwellings that they occupy (you can’t call that living) it ceases to amaze me that people would even want to exist like this. Get the hamster off the wheel. You can be poor, but you can be clean. Where is your self respect, no one can give that to you, you have to work at. Stop blaming your forefathers! If you don’t like the picture, change the channel. Children aren’t asked to be born and should be loved unconditionally, unlike friends and partners who have conditions. We choose them. Clean up your acts.

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