A Loving Home is Better Than None

Within this week alone, I've unintenially encountered, on three separate occasions, stories of alternative means of parenting. I wonder: Is this the next or latest trend?

First, there was the article in the August issue of Marie Claire, which admittedly has some of the best articles on love and relationships. The [true] story is about a single, divorced woman who has and a child with her two gay best friends. Well, only one of them donates the sperm, but, together, they are all raising the 'baster' child.

Then, I caught glimpse of this new tv show, called '{Strange} Sex', on none other than the network that brings you the Duggers, Gosselins, and 'I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant', good ole' TLC. The episode features this self-proclaimed high-self-esteemed woman and two guys in a polyamorous relationship, where she has a kid with one of them, but they raise the kid together, as they all live together. The episode ends with the three parents meeting a new potential love interest, who might join the group, as 'poly' isn't limited to just three [plus baby].

Then, as a supporter of Team BritBrit, I cracked open the August issue of Cosmopolitan, a read I don't recommend if you want to boost or even maintain your faith in men. The article discusses how more and more women are not depending on being in a relationship to attend to their biological clocks ticking away; instead, they're purposefully inducing themselves into single parenthood.

[T]he idea of “family” has changed drastically over recent years, and people have a more flexible view–whether it’s kids being raised by unmarried couples, gay couples, or single parents. “A large number of us have also witnessed our parents go through a nasty divorce or had absentee fathers, so that intact nuclear family just isn’t the model anymore,” says Mattes [the director of Single Mothers By Choice]. The result: single motherhood is a growing trend.

The whole thing is pretty fascinating. The first two stories remind me of Full House [funny but unconventional and, at least on screen, it worked, if the sappiness wasn't debilitatingly nauseating], the last makes me come up with Jay-Z. The idea of an 'intact' [whatever that means] nuclear family being the ideal is a rigid one. Love is love and is unbounded and fruitful, whether it be from 1, 2, 3,...


Happy Healthy Juicy Parents with Love!