Dialectic Journal #1

Passage chosen: "This is why it is valuable for parents to try to shift their parenting style, for mothers to incorporate some of the typical paternal style and for fathers to adopt more of the typical maternal style. This will give your own children not only an array of ways to deal with the world and all of its challenges, but will also show them that their reactions need not be based on gender, but more on what actually works best in each situation."- From "Fathers Are Not Like Mothers... But Together They Make A Great Team" (jgs.net)

Response: After reading this passage, I had one question; if a single parent can incorporate paternal and maternal parenting styles, does that mean single mothers and fathers can be good parents and be equally successful in parenting their children? I would say that they can be good parents if they do this, because not providing a balance for a child is one of the biggest reasons why some people think single parents are bad for kids. We have to remember that our society has evolved over time, and we are in the progress of making sure one gender isn't superior to the other. Because our society is evolving, I think parents will have an easier time incorporating both styles of parenting, and if a single parent can do this, their child will have the balance that two parents would have been able to create. However, people still have bad things to say about single mothers and fathers. My guess would be because they don't have children of their own, or they brought their child up in a traditional nuclear family.