With her column in the Washington Post explaining the liberalism-led decline of Western Civilization as evidenced by the fact that one of the British navy crew captured by Iran is a mother, Kathleen Parker hit me so hard upside my head, I can't decide whether I'm dim, brainwashed, or ideologically driven:
It is not fashionable these days to suggest that women don't belong in or near combat -- or that children need their mothers. Yes, they need their fathers, too, but children in their tender years are dependent on their mothers in unique ways.Sounds like the Taliban has already won [a regular gig in the Post, anyway].There's not enough space here to go into all the ways that this is true, but children (and good parents) know the difference even if some adults are too dim, brainwashed or ideologically driven to see what's obvious.
Why the West has seen it necessary to diminish motherhood so that women can pretend to be men remains a mystery to sane adults.
Mother Of All Blunders [washpost]
Um, wha?
Other than nursing my babies, I'm pretty sure there's nothing I can do as a parent that my husband can't. I wish I had some secret Mommy powers that I could bust out when needed, but alas it's not so. I DO think that the primary caregiver has an edge over the other parent when push comes to shove. But because we live in the 21st century, that doesn't automatically equal MOMMY. It is extremely common that Mama is the primary caregiver, and thus this myth that babies need their mamas more than their papas keeps on living. But really I think kids just need a consistent parent, whether it's mama or papa or BOTH (novel idea there, huh?). My best friend nursed until her daughter was two, but went back to work and pumped; her husband was the SAHP. To this day, her daughter, in times of duress, calls for Daddy, not Mommy. So much for the nursing edge.
Oh, and what is this "women can pretend to be men" garbage?! If I want to do something OTHER than care for babies and cook casseroles for dinner, I'm pretending to be a guy?!
But, what do I know? I'm obviously not a "good parent" cause right now I'm allowing my husband to pretend to be a woman by putting our baby down for a nap.
Okay, enough. Sounds to me like Kathleen Parker is the Mother of all Jackasses.
I read that article in the Post a couple days ago, and I could not see the rationale behind Parker's argument. I am the mother of a 20-month-old, and deployed with the US Navy to the same area that Faye Turney is. I nursed my daughter for the first 18 months of her life, and I was her primary caregiver. Leaving her was the most difficult thing I've ever done, but that being said, my husband is doing a phenomenal job of taking over as the primary caregiver. If I were captured or killed today, my daughter would experience a profound loss, but one that's not so different if she were to lose her father.
"pretend to be be men"?
People like this make we want to beat my face off a wall.