Our obsession with parenting is an avoidance strategy. It allows us to substitute our own small world for the world as a whole. But the entire planet is a child's home, and other adults are also mothers and fathers. We cannot separate our children from the ills that affect everyone, however hard we try. Aspiring to be perfect parents seems like a pathetic attempt to control what we can while ignoring problems that seem beyond our reach.
I wouldn't just blame mothers. Why I am glad I am not a kid these days is that parents just don't seem capable of butting out. They didn't have the term in my day, but my brother and I were latch-key kids. Our mother and grandmother worked in factories (my grandmother stayed home and took care of me until I was old enough to go to kindergarten, then she went back to work). Once we were old enough to find our way to the bathroom, etc. we were pretty much on our own. Even better, my brother is nearly eight years older than I, so we were on different tracks right from the get go (though he did have to spend more time than he wanted -- he was, after all, sane -- keeping an eye on me).
The point is that, in our day, we kids were pretty much left to ourselves. Most of us were smart enough to keep our behavior within bounds that kept us out of the kind of trouble that would have interfered with our freedom. I see kids today with all the goddamn organization that their interfering parens have imposed upon them and I feel so sorry for the little suckers. It's like sex education. I wouldn't have wanted any damn teacher instructing me on sex. It's a hell of lot more fun to discover that dimension of being on your own.
On the other hand: Motherlode. Books, Inq.: Fair and balanced.
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