Should You Have to Get a License to Raise Children?

[Baldry]

It makes sense, it could work but I don't like it. This fine chap has the right idea!

No.

1. There's no practical way to enforce it. What are you going to do to parents who have a child but no license? Force the mother to have an abortion? Take the child away? Okay, great, so what do you do with the children you take away?

2. Parenting is an experience. You can read all of the books and watch all of the DVDs ever produced on the subject and still be a novice. Most of the things about parenthood you learn as you go along.

3. The test could never be objective. What if one of the questions demands (hypothetically) that parents teach children that homosexuality is evil, when the parents disagree? To answer honestly - no, they'd teach their kids to be open-minded - would lose them the right to reproduce. Would you like to be told how to raise your children?

4. For that matter, what would the grading system be? Pass at 50%? 65% Okay, which questions did they get wrong? The ones on feeding, clothing? The ones on education? Does that mean a parent who got 100% is somehow 'better' than a parent who only got 70%?

5. If the test is a standard test, everybody is going to know what the correct answers are. There would even be books on the subject. Does that make you a good parent, or good at taking tests? For example, I aced my GCSE German exam, but I can't actually speak a word of the language and wasn't interested in ever doing so.

6. What about couples who want to adopt? Should there be different tests for adopting a young child, a teenager?

7. There's a horrific situation in China at the moment with their "one child only" policy - thousands of female children being killed in favour of having a male child instead.

I love that people in support of this license cite a tiny, tiny minority of society. What about all of those parents out there doing a great job? Where's the credit for them? Oh no, all parents are idiots, moving along.
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[Alpha1Niner]

It may not seem practical to do this everywhere, but I do like the idea. I know quite a few people who could really use a course, or three, in heightening their parenting skills.

 

[TheArma]

My husband actually came up with the idea of (temporary yet manditory) sterility treatments and each person having the right to have 3/4 of a child. Here's where it makes sense: Two people come together and can combine their rights to get one and a half children.

What's with the half child? Well the couple can sell the half child "title" at some point and use that money any way they want; preferably to help support the child they have. Families who already have one child and have the resources to raise another can buy another couple's half child "title" and have two kids of their own. There'd have to be a strict system in place to ensure couples don't go from one agency to another selling the "title" again and again as some people go from one doctor to another for multiple drug prescriptions.

Now in order to have the first child at all, there would be classes and exams and a trial period where the couple has to raise a doll (or perhaps a midget actor) to see if they have the mental and emotional commitment to back up a good score.

He explained it pretty good and I was mostly paying attention, but I'm sure some things were forgotten somewhere along the way.

EDIT: The sterility treatment would come as an injection every so often. Something that can be mixed into a vitamin shot, a flu shot, whatever that would benefit the patient and easy tot rack when it's time for another one.

The 3/4 idea is a stroke of genius... would be a moderate way of controlling population growth, without being too harsh. Applies market forces to the problem, which I like because markets are self-regulating and organic. Hell. I would sell my 3/4 and get myself a nice new BMW GS Adventure.

 

[DominicxD]

Yes it should. When it comes to this sort of thing people don't deserve rights because people are fucking idiots. Unless you're willing to commit to that child, you don't deserve it.

 

[Choppaduel]

call it: the ministry of procreation.

 

[Irony's Acolyte]

Of course! I mean we can just use the standards of good parenting that we all know. Oh wait, that's right. There are no standards of good parenting that we all know.

What defines a good parent? Is it one that always shows their kid love and affection? Is it one that is willing to lay down the law when it's time? Plus what about parents who have kids with special needs? No having a license to raise kids doesn't seem like an idea that will work that well. I mean there are obviously bad parents out there, but there are also systems designed to get the kid out of the home if that is the case already. And do you think that the parent who let their kid die while they were on Facebook put down an answer like "D - I've got thinks to do, the kid can wait until I'm done" on the test?

Nobody goes into parenting for their first time fully prepared, but they can still come out as a "good" (good being entirely subjective here) parent. Making it a privilege to reproduce and raise a kid seems pretty wrong, especially if this test is run by the government. Ta-da! You know have a way to control which part of the population can have kids.

 

[Ithera]

It's all fun and games until YOU! get denied. not so much fun then. Who decides? What criteria should one use? Perhaps we should place limits on the lower classes? Perhaps we should sanction death-squads to hunt down illegal non entities? Why not open up a sterilization program? Start with the homeless and then work our way up.

Thoughts like these make for a slippery slope, you never know where you will end up. As a civilized society we can do better than this.

 

[jpoon]

Great idea (rolls eyes) but how the hell would you ever enforce this? Good luck with that!

 

[Booze Zombie]

So long as the test takes into account that someone could be lacking in an area (reading, writing, speaking skills, etc) and change to their individual needs, it could work.
One can be a functional and loving parent whilst still being a bit illiterate. Heh.

 

[Geekosaurus]

So what happens if a couple has a child without a licence? Do they parents go to jail? Do they get fined? Now the children are crippled financially and have no parents. This is a terrible idea.

 

[awesomeClaw]

It´s a good idea, but it would be impossible to enforce.

But i really hate all the people in this thread going "Wah wah wah it´s a human right to have a child wah wah wah!"

To me, you don´t have a right to have a child until you´ve proven that you´re somewhat capable to take care of them, both financially and physically.

But then again, i´m a dirty, freedom hating socialist so what the hoo-haa.

 

[faspxina]

That's a terrible idea. As if the world wasn't unnecessarily bureaucratic enough.

 

[Tasachan]

The question is in the title, we sometimes hear about terrible fucking parents neglecting their child (usually for Facebook it would seem) and the child dies. The license I was thinking of is earned when the parent passes an exam on parenting and can demonstrate good parenting skills, then they can have a child with someone who also has this license. Now if by some odd chance someone has a baby and doesen't have this license then it will be taken by social services and will be returned when the parent obtains the license, or they'll give it to someone capable of raising the child if the parent-to-be refuses to get a license. So what are your thoughts, suggestions, is it a good or bad idea?

It's a somewhat reasonable idea, but what would you do if a woman was pregnant and fails the test? Force an abortion? Take her child away? The costs of housing all of these children would be astronomical, and I don't want to sound like a nay-sayer, but that's how the world works. You could spend hours, days advocating that the costs of housing them now would be less than paying to put them in prison/fixing the harm of any crimes they may do in the future. But it wouldn't work.
Perhaps parenting classes would be a better idea. In my church, you have to go to a weekend marriage prep class in order to get married, and though most of the stuff they covered were things my husband and I already discussed ourselves (budgeting, having children, etc) I'm sure it was useful for a lot of people.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

You already have a practical, why not a theory as well?

 

[archvile93]

What if the person is illiterate? You don't have to be literate to be a good parent, but it's going to make a test pretty darn hard.

If you can't even read, I highly doubt you make enough money to raise a child.

 

[Tasachan]

What if the person is illiterate? You don't have to be literate to be a good parent, but it's going to make a test pretty darn hard.

If you can't even read, I highly doubt you make enough money to raise a child.

My husband's supervisor is illiterate. He makes more than my husband does, and we're living on just his wages. It's possible.

 

[EdwardOrchard]

Ok guys, hear me out now - what if, there were a procedure like a vasectomy, that leaves you fully functioning downstairs, makes you unable to get a woman pregnant, BUT, was reversible?
What if, this procedure was performed on ALL newborn male babies. Then, the only way to possibly have a child would be to take such an exam, allowing you to 'reconnect the tubes.'

 

[Freeze_L]

It is not in the power of the government to, justly, declare fit and unfit parents. As others have mentioned logistically that is impossible, and limits freedom of the person greatly. The government is there to protect pepole and to act after they know something has happened not to arrest some one or deny them something for something they "might do" (see Minority Report). The government is there to do the smallest amount of necessary things not baby sit every child or really do more than basic infrastructure, zoning, and Nat' Sec; when the gov't does get involved it does not work as efficiently as the nation could and it hurts the pepole by imposing restrictions on them. Who gets to decide these things? What if they effectively outlawed pepole in the minority (Gays,Pagans,etc.) from having children? or force pepole to raise the child in a certain way, this is slavery but your asking for it.