Let’s talk about children today. The assault on the family is multi-pronged. There is the assault on marriage as an institution (is marriage obsolete they ask), the assault on the definition of marriage (why can it not be two men), and an assault on the meaning of sex (no longer just for married couples). All of these serve to weaken the family structure, but the most egregious attacks may surround what that structure exists for, the raising of children, the next generation.
Not long ago, our society looked very different. A full 40% of households had children present in the home, families were much larger, and children were omnipresent in society. Their well-being was put first. You could not put certain things on TV, many TV shows were geared specifically towards children or family viewing. People who went out to dinner anticipated hearing the sounds of children in a restaurant.
We are now in a very different world. We are down to 20% of households having children present. Many of those children are going to daycare, are in school, spending significant hours away from the home and family. When they are home, how many have been given a video game system, an iPad, or TV to occupy them?
The harsh reality is, our attitudes towards children, the most vulnerable of society, have hardened significantly in the past several decades. The only evidence to the contrary is the significant level of righteous indignation we muster at abuse scandals and things like the Penn State situation. While that is a great step forward, it also feels a bit hollow, like we are overcompensating for how little attention we pay to children the rest of the time.
How did we get here? There may not be one, easy answer. Children are suffering as the result of a general trend towards selfishness in society. Members of the “greatest generation” sacrificed everything, even their lives, to move the American ideal forward. If you were willing to die on D-Day, then the idea of subverting your well-being to do the best for your children is easy.
But, a growing selfishness in the Baby Boomer generation led to significant changes. The availability of birth control and sex outside of marriage led to the delaying of marriage. For boomers, marriage had to be for something more than procreation, there had to be something in it for them. Once you decide there has to be something in it for you, then if there is nothing in it for you we get divorce. On and on it goes, society gets reorientated around the wants and needs of the adults not the children.
The question is how do we take care of the next generation? It is more than just zero tolerance of physical or sexual abuse. We are to a point where children literally need a marketing campaign on their behalf. We need to make life easier for families, Senator Santorum has a great idea in expanding tax breaks for children. We need to reground people in what this country was built on. We need to see children as the blessing that they are, the ultimate legacy, and the gift from God that they are.
Here is the beauty of promoting children and pro-child rhetoric. You can, in a very positive way (no one would dare, overtly oppose children – something Democrats have exploited for years) take a stand against a number of ills in our society. A pro-child, pro-family message is a great way to counter the abortion movement.
A great way to put at least a speed bump in front of the gay marriage movement (ample sociological research showing that a traditional married couple is the most stable environment for child rearing) a great way to push back on the selfishness of our culture. It can lead to a discussion on school vouchers, giving children the best educational opportunities. The conservative movement in this country needs to regain the moral high ground and talk about policies that help parents raise children.
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