More Evidence Kids Need a Mom and a Dad

Family

Earlier this year author and New York psychoanalyst Erica Komisar published a book called Being There: Why Prioritizing Motherhood in the First Three Years Matters.

In the book Komisar highlights the critical role moms play in the first three years of a child’s development. She also shows the devastation caused when a child’s mother is absent.

For example, Komisar notes that from 2011 to 2012 the number of children diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder rose to 19%, and that nearly one in four children will be diagnosed with a mental disorder before the age of 18.

Komisar says the cause of the problem is simple: “The essential presence of a mother is missing” from the lives of these children.

Komisar is essentially echoing what we and many others have said for years: Kids need a mom and a dad.

Our friends at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview have put together an excellent commentary on Erica Komisar’s book here.

Photo Credit: By No machine-readable author provided. Doreendotto assumed (based on copyright claims). [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

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U.S. Supreme Court Upends Arkansas Supreme Court’s Good Birth Certificate Ruling

Family, Marriage, , ,

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, June 26, 2017

LITTLE ROCK, AR – On Tuesday the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the State of Arkansas must list two “mothers” on a child’s birth certificate if the child’s birth mother is legally married to another woman. The ruling overturned a good decision the Arkansas Supreme Court handed down last December.

Family Council President Jerry Cox issued a statement saying, “The U.S. Supreme Court is asking Arkansas to ignore basic facts about biology. Birth certificates exist to record that a child was born and who the child’s biological parents are presumed to be. As the Arkansas Supreme Court correctly noted last year, no child can have two biological mothers, but the Arkansas Department of Health will now be forced to operate as if that is possible because of this court ruling.”

Cox said the ruling sets a dangerous precedent. “The U.S. Supreme Court is treating the names that appear on birth certificates like some sort of marriage benefit. Birth certificates are issued for the sake of children—not for the sake of adults. They are not simply pieces of paper. They are vital records that need to be accurate and deserve respect. We should not let them become mere political ploys in the ongoing debates about marriage.”

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Photo Credit: By Brian Turner (Flickr: My Trusty Gavel) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

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More Evidence Marriage and Family are Good for the Economy

Family, Marriage,

We have written before about research revealing how marriage contributes to household income. Studies from the Heritage Foundation have shown marriage is as effective at raising household income as adding a few years to a person’s education. In other words, being married with a college degree puts a person’s income in the same range as that of someone with, for example, some graduate school education or a Master’s degree. This week there is more emerging evidence that marriage is good for parents and children.

According to a new study by officials from the National Marriage Project, “Growing up with both parents (in an intact family) is strongly associated with more education, work, and income among today’s young men and women. Young men and women from intact families enjoy an annual ‘intact-family premium’ that amounts to $6,500 and $4,700, respectively, over the incomes of their peers from single-parent families.”

If those numbers hold true, that means a young adult who grew up in an intact family with a mother and father present will earn roughly $200,000 – $290,000 more over the course of his or her career than someone who grew up in a single-parent household.

There are plenty of other factors to consider. As other researchers have noted, children with a married mother and father do better in school; have fewer discipline problems and are less likely to get in trouble with the law; and are more likely to go on to college. However, one thing these positive outcomes all have in common is a married mother and father.

(more…)

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