Monday, September 5, 2011

Family Affairs

I am privileged to know several "Mr. Moms"
These are men and fathers who make house a home.
Many are embarrassed to admit their positions,
As if this is not a manly mission.
I've had several husbands much calmer than I,
But we couldn't give role reversal a try,
Because we had been taught that women weren't to be
Trusted to, in the workforce, be free.

The mothers often convinced themselves
To buy all toys and adventures others would sell.
Stay-home men might allow children to run
All day in their pajamas, having unsupervised fun.
Many lost the ability to constructively imagine;
We don't want, this reality, to fathom.
Have our families become better off,
Or are we now paying a terrible cost?

We must stop hiding the truths from each other;
We can't afford to trust children only with mothers.
I have great hope that we won't slide back,
As long as we're truthful about the impact
Of deciding what chores have to be done
And assigning each to the appropriate one,
Not based on gender, but on ability.
Only then will our society, truly be free.

This new way takes much sacrifice,
But the alternative had too high a price.
Children now have no roots at home;
Both parents are, to the workplace, gone.
Do we need the luxuries that this affords,
The lessons in piano, two skateboards?
Or do we need block parents and neighborhood games?
This should not bring either parent shame.

Our blocks should agree on a code of conduct,
Not allowing the children to run amuck.
It could all be like Daddy or Mommy Day Camp,
But the rules of our behavior need to be revamped.
While on duty, the patrol parents must insure
Fairness, responsibility, and safety are secure.
These are times when we must not be hesitating
To create a world in which "G" is our child's world rating.

The adult programs must be turned off;
Children's minds are pliably soft.
They soak up like sponges that which enters,
And these images become their centers.
It is not fair to, as children, burden them
With problems that vex grown women and men.
Until we are willing to be accountable adults
The destruction of our families remains our faults.

We now have classes for every parental chore;
Anger management should receive the highest score.
No longer should we teach that might makes right;
We should behave by the rules in each others sight.
What's done in secret rarely, for long, stays far
Off the scope of children innocent radar.
We destroy their minds and their confidence
When we dishonor their minds' evidence.

All the parents who teach our children wrong,
Or expose them to the bullying throngs,
We as a society must learn to shun;
Let them live like the animals they've become.
We should not let the wealthy pay their way out;
This is not what shunning is all about.
It is a turning away of those who, our children, hurt.
Let them learn, their disciplined selves, to assert.