Platonic Parenting???

[Calm]

14 minutes ago, katherine the great said:

I also think that the nuclear family can be very isolating for the "stay at home" mom. Unless she has a tight group of friends or family members very close by, it can be unbearably lonely.

Been there, done that. Became perennial room mom at my kids school. Worked until Shan wouldn’t go to school any more, nor would she let me teach her. 
 

And that is why I have more than 63,000 posts. 

[katherine the great]

2 minutes ago, Calm said:

Been there, done that. Became perennial room mom at my kids school. Worked until Shan wouldn’t go to school any more, nor would she let me teach her. 
 

And that is why I have more than 63,000 posts. 

Before I settled on biological anthropology, and before I really thought it through, I considered doing my thesis on the effect of the nuclear family on women's mental health. 

[Bernard Gui]

5 hours ago, Calm said:

I disagree.  I think the norm of having a mom and dad and minor kids living under one roof and only visit g with grandparents or adult siblings has led to smaller families and weaker family connections. My cousins are practical strangers and I know a number of people who don't even know their cousins' names.  Connections are only made st weddings and funerals and less of those as years go by.

I think one of the reasons that children are seen as 'accessories' of parents rather than parents and kids part of a larger web or family legacy  is because of the ideal of the independent parents with minor kids and then empty nesters, enjoying their golden years traveling, having fun, etc. because they did their time as parents and now their grandkids are only around to have fun with....or not.

I believe the "nuclear family" survives better when it is not a nuclear family, but not sure how to find data for that.

Thanks. Even though our family is spread over wide distances we do everything we can to keep in constant touch. That is one of the blessings of cellphones and social media. We may be nuclear but we are still very much together. In the eternities I wonder what family will look like. 

Edited November 6, 2020 by Bernard Gui

[Calm]

12 minutes ago, Bernard Gui said:

Thanks. Even though our family is spread over wide distances we do everything we can to keep in constant touch. That is one of the blessings of cellphones and social media. We may be nuclear but we are still very much together. In the eternities I wonder what family will look like. 

So you are in close contact with your siblings,  cousins?  Aunts and uncles? 

[Calm]

13 hours ago, Kenngo1969 said:

True enough.  Perhaps the aim, rather than eliminating the effect of such factors, should be to study that effect to determine whether families in the U.S. might receive similar benefits by having more closely-knit families, and/or to determine, despite the differences that are undeniable, whether sufficient similarity exists that a similar benefit might result from being more closely knit.

When I say “eliminate” I mean in terms of research for the variable of nuclear families vs extended for longevity of parental relationships as well as what type of relationships exists between other family members over the years. Economic factors can be “eliminated” if you match people with the same economic characteristics. 
 

If there is no difference, then time to go study other factors. 

Edited November 6, 2020 by Calm

[Tacenda]

14 hours ago, Calm said:

Been there, done that. Became perennial room mom at my kids school. Worked until Shan wouldn’t go to school any more, nor would she let me teach her. 
 

And that is why I have more than 63,000 posts. 

I remember how lonely that was when I became a stay at home mom with my first and thereafter. I can imagine it's worse now though, because I believe more mom's are going to work outside of the home.

[Bernard Gui]

12 hours ago, Calm said:

So you are in close contact with your siblings,  cousins?  Aunts and uncles? 

Siblings and aunts and uncles, no. They have all passed.

Cousins...yes, some of them. Some have passed. Nieces and nephews, five out of six, but some have passed. 

All children and grandchildren.

Edited November 6, 2020 by Bernard Gui

[Ahab]

18 hours ago, Calm said:

I disagree.  I think the norm of having a mom and dad and minor kids living under one roof and only visit g with grandparents or adult siblings has led to smaller families and weaker family connections. My cousins are practical strangers and I know a number of people who don't even know their cousins' names.  Connections are only made st weddings and funerals and less of those as years go by.

I think one of the reasons that children are seen as 'accessories' of parents rather than parents and kids part of a larger web or family legacy  is because of the ideal of the independent parents with minor kids and then empty nesters, enjoying their golden years traveling, having fun, etc. because they did their time as parents and now their grandkids are only around to have fun with....or not.

I believe the "nuclear family" survives better when it is not a nuclear family, but not sure how to find data for that.

The term "nuclear family" refers to a Father and Mother and any children they have created together, but it is not meant to convey the idea that they should be kept apart or isolated from all other people.  It is simply a term for referring to that basic building block of a larger society, with each Mother and Father also being a part of another nuclear family wherein they are the children of their own Mothers and Fathers.  

All of us are connected.  All of us are part of a nuclear family, as well as an extended family.  We can be and often are parents while at the very same time we are also children and cousins and aunts or uncles and even grand parents... all at the same time.

 

 

edited to change an and to an or in this part... at the very same time we are also children and cousins and aunts or uncles and even grand parents... because we are very seldom aunts and uncles at the same time.

Edited November 6, 2020 by Ahab