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License to Parent?

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License to Parent?
Ryan Lehane

21 March 2008 License to Parent? The implementation of a parenting license procedure will be of great benefit to civilization in the development of our world. Decisions to restrict certain vocations, to forbid privileges such as driving, require successful passing of a licensing examination. Today, we seem to have created forms of permits and licenses for everything that we have deemed “valuable” with the exception of the most valuable possession anyone could ever obtain, a human life. Proficiency must be demonstrated to perform activities properly, and procedures are in place for assessment. Licensing is a valuable assessment tool; and a valuable way to protect children. The implementation of a parenting license procedure will be of great benefit to civilization in the development of our world. In American society today, anyone who has reproductive success is a parent, and often little attention is paid forward to the proper care and responsibility needed to parent a child and what the long term consequences are. Though the thought of another form of bureaucracy seems somewhat daunting, one must consider the long term rewards of the investment such as a parenting license, for the protection of children and the value to society. A person can never pick who they want their parents to be, so why should they have to suffer the consequences of indiscriminate intercourse by individuals who may not even want to spend an entire evening together, never mind a lifetime? Due to biological development, our bodies often mature faster than our minds. Hence, our society is faced with what is casually referred to as “unwanted pregnancies”. How awful to think that an innocent child who enters this world through the choices of “parents”, are not wanted and viewed as a burden. However, by implementing a parenting license procedure we could do our best to make sure that no child is left unwanted, neglected or abused. President Theodore Roosevelt



Cited: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. “HHS Releases Latest National Statistics on Child Abuse and Neglect. 04 April 2006. http://www.wcpcan.wa.gov/Files/Toolkit/HHS%20Releases%20Latest%20National%20Statistics%20on%20Child%20Abuse.htm Habinger, Matthew, OSB. “License for Parenting?” License for Parenting, works of Habinger. 27 December 2001. 28 February 2008. http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/hab/hab_04parenting.html Westman M.D., Jack C. “The Rationale and Feasibility of Licensing Parents” Little Criminals. November 1996. Society, November 1996. PBS- “Troubled Kids, Little Criminals”. 28 February 2008. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/little/experts/ LaFollette, Hugh. “Licensing Parents.” Philosophy and Public Affairs (Winter 1980) pp. 182-197. University of South Florida, St. Petersburg. 4 March 2008. http://www.stpt.usf.edu/hhl/papers/lic-par.htm Westman M.D., Jack C. “The Rationale for Licensing Parents”. Westman, Jack C. (1994) Licensing Parents: Can We Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect? New York: Insight Books. University of Wisconsin, Madison Department of Psychiatry. 12 March 2008. https://psychiatry.wisc.edu/faculty/FacultyPages/Westman3.htm Steinberg, Jerry. “License to Parent.” 03 March 2006. No Kidding! 12 March 2008. http://members.shaw.ca/nokiddingchapterone/licence.htm Westman M.D., Jack C. Licensing Parents: Can We Prevent Abuse and Neglect?. Insight Books, 1994

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