Gone are the days when society as a whole believes that every child needs one male parent and one female parent in the home, in order to lead healthy, happy lives. Today, people no longer believe a woman cannot support a family, or that a man cannot handle the duties and responsibilities once exclusively carried out by women.
Unfortunately, there seems to remain a stigma attached to nontraditional parenting, created by those who persist in conducting studies on marriage and parenting. The word nontraditional denotes a negative connotation in itself. The consensus among those who believe these studies are still necessary, is that the ideal environment for raising children is one man and one woman. Continuing to conduct these studies, attaches labels to children brought up families they do not consider traditional.
They arrive at these conclusions in a number of ways. Many fear that the absence of a man in the house may stifle a boy’s masculinity. They also think that girls need a male role model to set standards for the man they will grow up to date and marry.
If one man and one woman is the only combination ideal for good parenting, how do we account for the dysfunction in families with children of one man and one woman? How do we justify children raised by couples that do not include a man and a woman, who graduate in the top of their class, or win sports scholarships to prominent universities?
Bringing children up right has to do with the character of the people who raise them, and not their sex. For every bad mother, there is a bad father. There are also just as many single dads doing a wonderful job of raising children as there are single moms. Additionally, there are scores of happy, success adults that grew up in a two-mom family as well as in a two-dad family.
