Parenting Skills Issues - Essay Example

ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY The in this article argues that parenting is a skill that needs to be regulated and monitored with the license. Just likea driver needs driving license to be able to drive and demonstrate his skills, it is important that parents are required to do the same. With people like Britney Spears making headlines for their bad parenting skills, the idea seems to make a lot of sense. Children are innocent, fragile and need constant attention- why on earth should they be left with people who cannot do the job well. The only reason parents are allowed to do parenting is because they happened to give birth to the child. However not every person is a born parent or a natural when it comes to looking after small human beings. We need to see children as human beings who are so often left either unattended or uncared for when parents are busy with their lives. Parents think they know how to be good parents but the fact of the matter is that many parents don't. Some may learn through trial and error but why use a real human being as your experiment's guinea pig. Kids are too precious for this kind of experimentation. Therefore before a couple takes on the responsibility of becoming parents, they should be asked to take classes and sit for an exam in order to receive their parenting license. It is only after they have been successful that they should be allowed to become parents and become responsible for another life. There was once a time when mothers would sit at home and their only job was to take care of their kids. Most women were housewives and since they had time on their hands, they could invest in their kids with sincerity and devotion. Things have changed now. Not only many mothers are working, most also have a life besides home, husband and kids. They may have done women emancipation a lot of good but it has seriously affected lives of small children in many households. Apart from that, some women no matter whether they are housewives or not, may actually find themselves too overwhelmed when they are given the responsibility of a child. They feel they are not natural mothers and this affects their ability to take care of their young ones. For this reason again, parenting license is a great idea. The opponents of the idea would probably find the whole thing quite insensible. They argue that parents have been parenting since time immemorial so why now Why must they take a license when God saw them fit for the job and gave them a kid These arguments may seem fine on the surface but when studied in the context of time and changes, we see their invalidity. The fact is that God doesn't necessarily give kids to people with good parenting abilities. We have already seen cases of people like Spears and Michael Jackson. Secondly, people may have been doing it for centuries but haven't times changed drastically As mentioned earlier, women in olden times had but one concern: to please their husbands and take care of their children. Most women did a great job because they had little else to do and besides even if they did a bad job, they were never reported and children suffered in silence. Why allow that kind of inhumanity when we can change the picture and make lives so much better for these little souls. The opponents also feel that such a system cannot be successfully implemented. They feel that setting the standards would be difficult and how would we urge parents to take parenting courses. There is a simple solution to this: make it mandatory in every hospital across the country so no first time parents are allowed to register without prior registration for parenting classes. They must also carry a proof they are attending these classes and they must get a license before delivery date. This would be quite a simple thing to do and if law protects it, people will not be able to violate it. A poor parent can learn many skills and a potential great parent can become even better. This kind of practice would minimize the risk of a child being neglected or falling into the hands of unprepared, unloving or inattentive parents. Times have changed so much that now we have many single parents and many people think that children growing up in single parent families are neglected. But that is not true. Single or not, a parent needs some parenting skills and what really makes a difference is how positive an influence a parent is. If married and negative, the child will suffer just as much as he would with a negative single parent. On the other hand, a positive parent is a great blessing whether single or coupled. The stressful lives people lead today has made it all the more necessary for them to learn some new and better skills. Even many new parents admit that they were totally unprepared for the job and found themselves in a whole new arena once the child came in. parenting license can also be good for marriages. People who are better prepared to look after a child will minimize the stress that it can bring to a family and thus avoid the spillover effect it has on marriages. Parenting is a job just like any other job in the world and since it involves a young fragile life, it is actually more important. For this reason, parenting license is a great recommendation that can actually prepare expecting parents for the big task ahead. If we think that license for parents is a new idea, we couldn't be more wrong. More than two decades ago in 1980, an article was published in Policy and Public Affairs where the author contended that every activity that requires safe performance should be regulated by law and for this reasons, parents need a license too. " any activity that is potentially harmful to others and requires certain demonstrated competence for its safe performance, is subject to regulation that is, it is theoretically desirable that we regulate it. If we also have a reliable procedure for determining whether someone has the requisite competence, then the action is not only subject to regulation but ought, all things considered, to be regulated." (LaFollette, 1980) The author in this article and the one we are discussing have both made valid points in favor of licensing and it seems to be the right thing to do since learning new skills and set of competencies would make parenting a easier experience. The opponents argue that licensing doesn't make sense because everyone has a right to have children. Well to them, I would like to say that with licensing requirement we are not asking people not to have children. Their right to have children is not being violated or influenced. But like everyone has a right to drive a car but for that they need driving license; in the same manner parents must seek license before they bring a new child into this world. We need to understand that driving license is required because safety on the road is important and your wrong action can hurt another life. If you were the only person on the road with the only car around then you wouldn't probably need a license. But since lives of other individuals and their safety are involved, it becomes imperative to have a license. In exactly the same manner, we must make parents seek a license because another important fragile life is involved. How can you allow an incompetent parent to do whatever they wish to do with a child just because they are the parents It's so ridiculous. We have seen parents mistreating their children and the only reason we cannot reproach is because they would respond with "this is my child" claim. But should they be allowed to make this claim and use it to protect their bad behavior Think and you will know the answer. Parenting license should therefore be a must for everyone. References Hugh LaFollette, "Licensing Parents", Philosophy and Public Affairs (Winter 1980) pp. 182-97 Janice Turner, Should we need a license to be a parent, Toronto Star, Sunday, March 14, 1999 Read More