suggestions please. How do your raise your kids.
I'm a single dad and have done okay. I taught my kids to not back down from bullies. I explained that to the school. They seemed okay with it. Never mouth off to adults even if they are wrong. And never trust anyone. How's that so far?

How many progressives do you know who are campaigning on redefining the family unit? Or is this just something you imagine?

@InternetDorkWeb Hey Dork, nice name. Instead of me giving names of politicians, why don't you Google "preschool for infants and toddlers" and find out how many different groups have been pushing it for many years? Remember Hillary's" Masterpiece--"It Takes a Village"? [urban.org]
[record-bee.com]

Also, if you really want to educate yourself regarding this, Google "destruction of the family unit"

You're welcome.

@InternetDorkWeb Hey Dork--for a self-described Marxist, you don't know much about Marxism.
Let me help: [romanticpoet.wordpress.com]

@MarPep If I google “destruction of the family unit” it is obvious that I will find websites making that claim, just as searching for “vaccinations autism link” will lead to websites that claim vaccines cause autism. I am not interested in conspiratorial propaganda.

The link you posted is about expanding early education in California... not really sure why this is a problem though? Unless it is because you consider pre-school education itself to be “destruction of the family unit”?

Can you provide specific examples or not? It’s not an unreasonable request.

Regarding Marx’s views on the traditional family, he was referring to the conditions of his time, ie children working in factories and women as chattel, which I’m sure even you would agree is not the best way to raise children...

@InternetDorkWeb from my last link:
"Abolition of the family! … The bourgeois family will disappear, in the course [of history] as its supplement [private property] disappears, and both will vanish with the destruction of capital.
– The Communist Manifesto, Chapter 2, Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels.

If the family disappears, then the State will raise the children of women.

Feminism, a Progressive Leftist movement, has been instrumental in destruction of marriage. Women are encouraged to become bread-winners rather than mothers. Welfare for single mother families has also helped replace the man with the Gov't. With the destruction of the family, childcare becomes the prerogative of the State.
We now have KinderCare and like organizations that provide day-care and pre-K from infancy to Kindergarten, and with State and Federal funding.

You're a Marxist who doesn't believe in "conspiracies"?? How odd

@MarPep Ah, so you were talking about the bourgeois family and not the working class.

Nonetheless, you need to remember that Marx was writing in the 19th century and not in the present day. Even then though, his meaning is quite clear from the quotation you provided: once private property no longer exists, women will no longer be treated as private property, and therefore the “bourgeois family” (where marriage functions as a business transaction) will cease to exist.

This does not mean the state will raise children. On the contrary, people will be free to raise children with whoever they so choose, without concern for social standing or financial status. To be honest I suspect your own ideals about marriage are more likely to be realised under Marxism than contemporary capitalism, much less 19th century capitalism... unless you’re a proper reactionary...

The need for free preschools and so on is driven more by economics than by feminism. Most people can no longer afford a home and to raise children on a single income, whether they want to or not. Consequently women must work to pay for housing. Of course, childcare is also extremely expensive, hence the demand to make it more affordable.

Unfortunately the only solution that conservatives can provide for this problem is to tell people to stop having children if they cannot afford them, which is a bit like wishing upon a star.

I call myself a Marxist because like him, I’m concerned with analysis of present material conditions to predict future developments, and then attempting to solve problems based on the analysis. As close to a scientific approach as possible, basically.

Many ideologies tend to ignore this and instead base themselves upon certain “ideals” which they strive for under all circumstances, without regard for their effect or sometimes even the means.

This is not in keeping with all Marxists because I’m not obsessed by class conflict or about revolution. Although I probably share their goals when it comes to the emancipation of people.

The way I see it, there are several objective and existential problems that society faces today (income inequality,
climate change, aging populations...) and it’s not at all clear how capitalism will address them beyond nebulous assertions about “innovation” and “freedom”.

Now, tell me, does this really seem like an unreasonable view to you?

Hey! Who said I was "older"?!?

@Golda How do you raise your kids? Mine aren't rude or disrespectful. It is hard when you have to work and not have much time to keep them busy. What would you suggest?

@graesvol As someone who has never been married and has no children, I agree with you on the stigma part.

Re: the sigma. I knew when I was 12 that I was never going to have children. By the time I was 13 I was the oldest of 9. I was brow-beaten by other girls as a teenager who would say the usual things...after all, it was abnormal to not want children. When I was 29 and decided to have a tubal ligation I had to see a psychiatrist twice. He finally signed off because I was bi-polar along with 6 others in my family. One of my sisters killed herself and her baby girl (she had a brain tumour). None of us (8) remaining had children. My parents supported us all the way. They wanted grandchildren but not disabled ones who might not be able to work and have normal lives.

Today many of our friends say we might have done the right thing. One of the girls who was most vocal against me (she was an only child) has a son who just lost his job because he molested young boys he was training (in golf). My cousin's son has grade 7 and became a drug addict. He's not anymore but he earns his living growing weed, something both she and her husband riled against when they were young. He has lots of money but they don't talk about his "accomplishments". His wife just left him too so his little daughter is not living next door to her grandparents any longer.

One of my sister's best friends has two boys who are thieves and drug users and sellers. She sometimes wishes she had never had children. They are a constant source of worry.

One of my friends has a daughter who has an MA in Psychology with a great job 3,000 miles away and a son who also has a great job 300 miles away, living with an older woman who can't have children. She's upset her two children are not closer and that she can't see her two grandchildren more often.

On the other hand me, my 3 sisters and some of my childhood friends who didn't have children are happily going into a carefree retirement. However, I do love children and wish my niece had lived.

*****One thing I should say is that all these parents raised their kids properly but our society today (even in quiet rural communities and in loving extended families) can ruin our young, especially with drugs. Also, because of lack of opportunities, many young people have to settle far away, like I did and are not much use to their elderly parents.

Considering the influence of peers and social media and what it cost to raise kids today, they are a liability. Although I'm a Christian and celebrate every birth, I'm happy that people today give a lot more thought as to whether to not they should propagate themselves.