The Kids Are Not Really Alright

Published: Friday, July 20 2012 1:35 p.m. MDT

Our take: For children today, it is proven that it is better to be raised in a home with a mother and a father who are married and college-educated. Children that are raised in single-parent homes are more likely to have problems while growing up, according to this article by W. Bradford Wilcox.

At first glance, I might qualify as the poster boy for Katie Roiphes recent Slate article defending single mothers and their children. Raised by a strong and resourceful single mother, I turned out OK. Sure, I had some unusually angry outbursts as a child (like the time I threw my lunchbox across the dining hall at camp for no good reason) and had to endure my share of therapy for that anger. But I have managed to steer clear of prison, earn a Ph.D., hold down a decent job, and marry up. My life is proof positive, as Roiphe argues, that married-parent families do not have a monopoly on joy or healthy environments or thriving children.

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CHS 85

Sandy, UT

My father, a college-educated man, worked for the very church that owns this newspaper. My father traveled nonstop when I was growing up doing the business of the Church all over the world. He would be gone for weeks and weeks at a time in remote More..

7:10 p.m. July 20, 2012
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Mad Hatter

Provo, UT

Unfortunately, having a mother and father at home does not necessarily indicate the family is not disfunctional. There are many single-parent homes where the family is happy and the children ware well-raised. Because there are so many factors in More..