ABORTIONS And Raising A DEMOCRAT
- By Janet McCormick
- Published 03/17/2008
Janet McCormick
As a mother, chef, business owner and author of "10-minute meals", I have something to say. I feel like I've lived several lives though I'm a young 41-year-old. A checkered past is an understatement when describing my experiences. To say the least, I've gained some insight along the way. I crawled out of an abusive relationship with a famous song writer. I started a catering business, opened a small cafe and wrote a cookbook. ultimatebreadpudding.com 10-minutemeals.com
My son is sixteen and beginning to sprout some wings. Our Sunday dinner conversation turned into a provoking discussion concerning politics and the current presidential candidates. For a while my son had been dropping hints referring to his disappointments with the Republican choices. His father and I have been divorced for 14 years and I have since remarried. For the most part I have identified more with the Republican party and his father is a die hard Democrat no matter who the candidates are. I must say that I don't claim to be of either affiliation. However, I tend to lean towards the moral issues that I believe in i.e. banning abortion, gay rights and I'm not for gun control. It's apparent that my sons "new" outlook on these issues are coming from his "new" government class. His teacher claims that she is presenting both sides and the students are merely making their own choices based on the fair and unbiased information. I love my son and I'm quite proud of him. Unfortunately, we don't agree. I guess this is the parenting part that I would like to do without. I'm not trying to raise a miniature me so I am respecting his opinion. He believes abortion should be the woman's choice. He made some great
points in his debate. And he made some really stupid ones. He's only sixteen. I was disappointed that he didn't side with morality. He argued that kids are stupid and they shouldn't be punished for the rest of their lives for one indiscretion. I rebutted, "So for convenience sake, killing a child should be allowed just once." He then stated the usual points of cases that included rape or incest. I followed that up with "What if you were killed because I didn't believe you came along at the right time or circumstance." All in all, we both understood each other and he didn't back down. He ended the whole conversation with, "Mom, if I voted Republican it wouldn't matter about the abortion issue, it won't be reversed anyways." He's right. Why do they even bring up that issue? Republicans won't change that.
Having a level head, I listened to my sons opinions without judgment. That is very hard to do. I had hoped he would vehemently defend the moral side of the issue. However, he was open minded enough to say that he didn't have all the answers. I admitted the same and added, "Well, even though I don't like any of the candidate choices, I will always take the moral high ground and let those standards rule in my life." Maybe with some age, those words will resonate in his life. We'll see.
Having a level head, I listened to my sons opinions without judgment. That is very hard to do. I had hoped he would vehemently defend the moral side of the issue. However, he was open minded enough to say that he didn't have all the answers. I admitted the same and added, "Well, even though I don't like any of the candidate choices, I will always take the moral high ground and let those standards rule in my life." Maybe with some age, those words will resonate in his life. We'll see.
