Do parents owe their children anything?
Asked by
shamroch (
111
)
February 18th, 2009
Does having a kid give you a responsibility to fulfill some arbitrary requirement of parenting? What is it? At what point does a parent fulfill its obligation to child?
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14 Answers
You don’t have any children do you?
Protection, support, and unconditional love.
Housing, food…clothing…proper education….that’s just the tip of the iceberg! Once a parent, always a parent. I don’t think it ever ends.
Protection and unconditional love for the whole of the parent’s life. Housing, food, clothing, medical care, and education until they are adult (which is rather like a “movable feast” – it isn’t set at any one age despite laws stating 18 or 21). And a whole bunch of other stuff, including listening when they need to talk, accepting the idiot son-in-law, telling them that dress looks great, and so on.
Now as far as Child Protective Services is concerned, it would be appropriate housing, food, clothing, medical care and schooling until the age of 18. Period.
Yes. The basics AstroChuck and cak mentioned at the very least. If one is not able or willing to provide those things, adoption should be considered.
Parents shoulder the full responsibility for making sure that their children have everything they need to live, be happy, and contribute to society. Whether or not the adult child does that is their burden.
Parents owe their children love, security, guidance, support, and the basic needs and wants. I also believe that there should be mutual respect and love between parents and children. I know I certainly owe my parents a lot for always supporting me with whatever I choose to do in life.
Oh good lord no. I don’t have children. I’m not trying to determine what I owe my kids. Everyone has issues with their parents and what they did or did not do. I wanted to know what people thought their responsibilities to their children were.
As the child of two parents, I should certainly hope so.
In my family, the formal obligation ends when you have put them through college, although you can voluntarily take on more. Of course, all the things the other people said while raising them until age 21 or so, when they graduate from college. Also, you must prepare them with all the skills they need to be responsible and take care of themselves after college.
I agree with the excellent answers above. I would add that children need to learn boundries.
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