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THE CHILDREN
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By C. Northcote Parkison

Granted that children may be desirable, we have next to decide
upon their number. All enlightened thought rejects the only child,
thus making two the minimum, just insufficient to maintain the
population at its present level. A family comprising one boy or one
girl might be thought well balanced, but with too much reliance on
the son's survival. In view of the fact that s single illness or accident
might extinguish the family's male line there is some reason to have a
reserve. With that secure most people would regard the family as
complete.
The large family of five or more is not, however, generally
desirable. While it may offer a good upbringing to the childen this is
only by a sacrifice of the parents. Five children at an average interval
of two years must imply a quarter of a century, more or less, spent in
changing nappies and supervising homework. This is justifiable only
on the assumption that the children matter more than the parents. But
why should this be assumed? There are instances, to be sure, where
the fact is evident, but the theory that parents should always live for
their children is absurd. That the child might be an Isaak Newton is
true, but the father might be Johann Sebastian Bach. To conclude that
each generation must matter less than the next is ridiculous and will
lead us nowhere…
All that is left for the child-oriented parent is the prospect of
becoming a grandparent. This is merely an opportunity to make the
same mistake again. It is true that a grandmother is sometimes the
answer to the baby-sitter problem, but this hardly justifies her in
making a baby-sitting career. For the sad fact is that marrying early
has changed the pattern of grandmaternity. The girl who marries at 18
may be no more than 37 when her daughter acts as hastily. The only
solution is to be less obsessed with children from the outset. First to
benefit from this more careless attitude are the children themselves.
Where mother and father devote themselves to parenthood, children
gain a wrong notion of their own importance. Taking themselves too

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Текст друкується за виданням Зарубина З.В. и др. Продолжайте
совершенствовать свой английский. – М: Высш. шк., 1988. С.72 – 73

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