Comments on: On Parenting, Sarah Palin and Dads

By: Navi

Navi — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 19:08:53 +0000

thanks for this. I’m personally anti-Palin but all the ‘what about her children’ bs is pissing me off. Barack Obama’s kids are young. His wife is on the campaign trail. No one is asking about them, because the candidate is male.

By: Ethel

Ethel — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:50:14 +0000

My father raised five kids with no wife (she was removed from the household due to schizophrenia, and fell out of contact). One parent is really all it takes; it’s just hard on that one parent.

Politics and ER work are both very important, and I think it is okay for a parent’s main contribution to their children’s upbringing to be a very good example of hard work. I doubt Palin will be totally absent from her family, and guess that she will give at least a little more than a good example.

OK, back to the real issues for me!

And BTW, my sister and I, plus some friends and I, have had several conversations about Todd Palin. They may not be in the media, but people are curious.

By: colin

colin — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:17:02 +0000

Also important to note that VP only has 2 constitutional duties: steping up if the president dies, and breaking a tie in the senate. Seems to leave plenty of time for parenting.

By: amy

amy — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 04:56:47 +0000

Hi, Brian. Long time no comment.

I think we’re not hearing anything about Todd Palin because it’d really distract from beating up Sarah Palin for abandoning her baby, which became a pastime all over my usual feminist blogs. I’ve had several conversations now that have multiple iterations of this:

“Well, what I’d like to know is who’s taking care of that baby.”
“The guy.”
“I mean is she going to have nannies and a household staff? Because that’s not what most women have access to.”
“No, the guy’s doing it.”
“And I don’t know how she could even contemplate handing her sick baby off to people who aren’t even family.”
“The guy’s taking care of the baby. Also, the baby’s not sick and it’s not your business anyway.”

Actually I was mostly thinking it’s a good thing for them that’s Todd’s as manly-lookin’ and comfortable with children as he is. Otherwise he’d be looking like a cuckold up on the stage there. I was surprised by how well he carried it off.

By: KC

KC — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:09:35 +0000

I agree that the concern does seem sexist. Is Mrs. Palin a bad mom? Is her husband an incompetent dad? Both, neither, who knows.

By: Working Dad

Working Dad — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:14:25 +0000

RD, Thanks for raising the point about a SAHD in the Naval Observatory. It’s interesting to think about and would certainly impact the community that reads this blog.

By: Katherine

Katherine — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:41:59 +0000

I agree that you can’t be a great parent to young children while working a demanding job like pres or vp. Whether you’re male or female.

BUT who am I to tell Sarah Palin she has to agree with me? I blogged about that here: http://workingmoms.about.com/b/2008/09/04/will-sarah-palins-candidacy-set-back-working-mothers.htm

There are plenty of SAHMs who look at me working 32 hours a week and think I’m scarring my 2 and 4 yr old kids for life. So I’m wary of starting down that judgmental path.

Hey, maybe Sarah Palin becoming a publc figure will actually result in a national rethinking of the demands of the workplace, and give everyone better work-life balance! You never know…

By: rachel

rachel — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 09:06:37 +0000

What’s OnBalance?

I’m a first time mom to an almost four month old baby boy, so perhaps I went a little overboard. But still, I can’t imagine anything else being so important that he’d be moved to a back shelf.

By: Greg Barbera

Greg Barbera — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 05:04:04 +0000

Whoa.

looks like those nut job OnBalance commentors found you over here.

By: rachel

rachel — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 22:49:37 +0000

Whatever, Steve. Obama and Palin are already “bowing out” to an extent, but from their families rather than from their careers. I didn’t write anything about kids vs no kids; it’s the ages of the children that make the difference.

Is it really so crazy for parents to choose jobs/careers that give them more family/home time than those that don’t? Or to make sacrifices on behalf of their families? I don’t think so!