How Feminism Hurts Children

Originally, I wanted to do a LONG post on how feminism hurts men, women, and children. The draft of that post was perhaps 70% finished.

But then I realized it was TOO long, and I had a long ways to go. I really wanted to get into the nitty gritty of how modern feminism negatively impacts anyone in its path, and I knew that I may lose a lot of people’s attention if I kept working on that extensive draft.

I decided to break it up into a three-part series:

• How Feminism Hurts Men
• How Feminism Hurts Children (you’re reading it)
• How Feminism Hurts Women (coming soon)

This week’s topic, on feminism’s effect on today’s children, comes courtesy of a recent segment on the Dr. Laura Program, in which she’s reading and commenting on a Chicago Tribune piece by a woman (Kate Zinsser) discussing the inconveniences that her children have brought to her life.

The opinion piece has to do with Senator Ducksworth’s decision to bring her newborn daughter to the Senate.

What follows are lines taken from that piece, followed by some notes (bolding my own):

As a mom, I was overjoyed when the U.S. Senate allowed senators to bring their babies onto the floor, a move spurred by the April birth of Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s daughter.

This is a picture of the senator with her daughter:

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., arrives at the Senate with her new daughter, Maile Pearl, during the vote on Mike Pompeo to be President Donald Trump’s second secretary of state, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, April 26, 2018. (J. Scott Applewhite / AP)

Dr. Laura couldn’t rebut that part any better: “I don’t applaud her decision to bring her baby to work so young. The baby looks like she still in her uterus, and she should be home instead of being exposed to all the noise and germs, and where there’s peace and quiet.”

Ms. Sinzzer continues:

…[we] must be realistic that working families like mine have challenges that require more significant action by Congress…. A challenge we face is finding affordable, high-quality infant child care.

As a developmental psychologist, I am well-versed in what to look for when researching child care, but there is a dearth of care, especially for infants and toddlers in Chicagoland.

This part was FUNNY: As a developmental psychologist, the author apaprently fails to see that the most affordable and highest-quality daycare is HERSELF.

I don’t get how she can be well-versed in looking at daycare options and doesn’t know that THAT’s a mom? In all her “studies” and her PhD, all she learned that hired help was the best alternative? Obviously she’s learned nothing.

We felt this acutely when the care arrangement we depended on had to close suddenly. With only one week’s notice, we researched a dozen places to find an opening that was licensed, physically safe and affordable. Unfortunately, it was not emotionally supportive enough, and for seven months, Graeson cried each morning we left him. I knew that the caregivers’ social-emotional practices were developmentally inappropriate …

OK:

1. For seven months, the baby cried each morning that they left him.
2. For seven months, this baby suffered. She JUST admitted to abuse: and you’re calling these women “mothers”? (She’s married to a woman.)

What’s sad is that she’s not lamenting the fact: she’s merely pointing it out as her inconvenience.

My wife and I constantly doubted ourselves, wondered if she should work part-time. But the financial and professional ramifications were too high — we had just bought our first home. Ultimately, we waited out the lower-quality care arrangement until he turned 2 and could enter an amazing program nearby.

She’s now admitting that they didn’t want a better daycare facility and that he wouldn’t be loved all day because they had just bought a house.

As Dr. Laura so eloquently put it: “Two women and neither of them would get with what a mother is?” At this point, she stops reading the piece live on the air because she can’t believe the absurdity.

Not me, though. I immediately looked up the article and found more juicy bits to share. Brace yourselves, sane people!

With a new baby coming, we are back in this turmoil and have been looking for infant care since we got pregnant. We are lucky to have supportive employers and, if need be, we can keep her home for several months, but it will be logistically and financially difficult.

For many families the strain would be untenable. Paid family leave would offer young families a real solution for these precious first few months; it’s the law in some states right now, but not in Illinois nor across the entire country.

OK. The logistical and financial difficulties help explain why if you’re not ready to BE a parent, you don’t BECOME a parent.

Moreover, sure, Paid Family Leave would help many families, but a kid’s first months aren’t the most precious in their life. A parent should witness it all.

Our story is just one example of why we must make investing in babies and toddlers our national priority. A national paid family leave program would mean that all parents have time to bond with their babies without sacrificing financial security….

If a parent thinks all they need to bond with a baby is stay home for just a few weeks/months and then ship them off to daycare or to be with a nanny where they can be unloved all day, they’re fooling themselves.

Our country can do more to increase access to quality, affordable child care for working families. Congress recently passed a historic increase in child care funding for low-income working families. But this is only a down payment on what is needed to ensure that all babies and families who need it have access to high quality care.

Which is why you don’t have kids if you’re not ready to be a parent for them.

The science is clear — babies’ brains grow faster between birth and age 3 than at any later point in life. In fact, their brains form more than 1 million new neural connections every second, laying the foundation for all future learning and development.

Sadly, if we don’t focus on childhood development, there are consequences, such as life-long developmental, educational, social and health challenges.

You know what else lays the foundation for all future learning and development? A loving and supportive parent that’s always there.

She is right on that second point, though: Not focusing on childhood development leads to challenges in a number of aspects of a person’s life. Which is why if you’re not ready to be a parent, you don’t become a parent.

… We … are ready for Congress to see us for who we are — proud Americans and proud parents who want Congress to know that the future begins with babies.

The future does begin with babies–and it progresses with those kids as they grow up. Which is why a parent needs to parent their child.

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Want to see how else Feminism hurts children–and has been doing so for years? Check out my Feminism tag to see a continually updated list of posts on the matter. And let me know how else you think feminism is runining society.