The artists drew it that way--not my idea. I don't think people push carriages together, it's not a thing! So to avoid her being the pusher, he'd have had to be the pusher, and then that would have seemed anomalous and so would have distracted from what the image is supposed to get across.
Like most people, I have a fairly clear idea about what a good society would be like (and philosophers have dealt with the topic of the good society since Plato), but I have no idea what a good parent is besides stuff about getting the kid vaccinated, sending them to school and to the dentist, making sure that they eat a balanced diet, etc.
A few months my son, age 37, got angry at me and told me off for not having been a parent at all (which means I wasn't even a bad parent.) From the conversation, he seems to define a "good parent" as a conventional one, which I surely was not nor am. He did thank me for having opened his mind to many new ideas, which I had always thought was part of being a good human being and therefore, of a good parent and partner, etc. I have learned that many women do not consider Socratic questioning as part of being a good partner and I guess many people do not consider it to be part of being a good parent either.
The only things about being a good parent that ever made sense to me were things that Erich Fromm talks about in the Art of Loving, characteristics of a loving human being, but I have no idea if a good parent is different than a loving human being. Most people would say so, but I don't have that clear.
Good luck with your new book.
ReplyDeleteHowever, why is the woman pushing the baby carriage, not the couple together?
The artists drew it that way--not my idea. I don't think people push carriages together, it's not a thing! So to avoid her being the pusher, he'd have had to be the pusher, and then that would have seemed anomalous and so would have distracted from what the image is supposed to get across.
ReplyDeleteYour book deals with a much needed topic.
ReplyDeleteLike most people, I have a fairly clear idea about what a good society would be like (and philosophers have dealt with the topic of the good society since Plato), but I have no idea what a good parent is besides stuff about getting the kid vaccinated, sending them to school and to the dentist, making sure that they eat a balanced diet, etc.
A few months my son, age 37, got angry at me and told me off for not having been a parent at all (which means I wasn't even a bad parent.) From the conversation, he seems to define a "good parent" as a conventional one, which I surely was not nor am. He did thank me for having opened his mind to many new ideas, which I had always thought was part of being a good human being and therefore, of a good parent and partner, etc. I have learned that many women do not consider Socratic questioning as part of being a good partner and I guess many people do not consider it to be part of being a good parent either.
The only things about being a good parent that ever made sense to me were things that Erich Fromm talks about in the Art of Loving, characteristics of a loving human being, but I have no idea if a good parent is different than a loving human being. Most people would say so, but I don't have that clear.
I like it.
ReplyDelete