A belief in Parenthood
Parents have an obligation to help their children become healthy, happy adults who make their own positive contributions to society.
Quotations
“I must study politics and war”
I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.
John Adams, from the letter “Letter to Abigail Adams”, May 12, 1780
“The institution of the family”
The institution of the family is decisive in determining not only if a person has the capacity to love another individual but in the larger social sense whether he is capable of loving his fellow men collectively. The whole of society rests on this foundation for stability, understanding and social peace.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan, from the book Family and Nation, 1986
“Life is a series of daring adventures from a secure base”
Human development research offers a different formula: All of life is a series of daring adventures from a secure base. If government can create a framework in which people grow up amid healthy families, nurturing schools, thick communities and a secure safety net, then they will have the resources and audacity to thrive in a free global economy and a diversifying skills economy.
David Brooks, from the essay “Trumpism at Its Best, Straight Up”, 03/03/2017, © The New York Times Company
“No Philosophy of Family Life”
In other words, while social conservatives have a philosophy of family life they can’t operationalize, because it no longer is relevant, progressives have no philosophy of family life at all, because they don’t want to seem judgmental. The sexual revolution has come and gone, and it’s left us with no governing norms of family life, no guiding values, no articulated ideals. On this most central issue, our shared culture often has nothing relevant to say—and so for decades things have been falling apart.
David Brooks, from the article “The Nuclear Family was a Mistake”, March 2020
“Quality of Children vs. Quantity”
Instead of needing lots of children, we need high-quality children.
“That community asks for and gets chaos”
From the wild Irish slums of the 19th century Eastern seaboard, to the riot-torn suburbs of Los Angeles, there is one unmistakable lesson in American history; a community that allows a large number of men to grow up in broken families, dominated by women, never acquiring any stable relationship to male authority, never acquiring any set of rational expectations about the future – that community asks for and gets chaos. Crime, violence, unrest, disorder – most particularly the furious, unrestrained lashing out at the whole social structure – that is not only to be expected; it is very near to inevitable. And it is richly deserved.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan, from the book The Negro Family: The Case for National Action, 1965
“You can simply focus on raising a human being”
Imagine, then, what it’s like to be a Nordic parent. You can simply focus on raising a human being, in an age-appropriate way at every stage, without ever once feeling guilty that you’re not saving enough money, or not making enough money, to secure them the college education they’ll need to avoid ending up in the gutter.
Anu Partanen, from the book The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life, 2016