It Takes a Family

In this article the metaphor of two planes is used to explain the alleged negative effects a single-parent family has upon a youth as opposed to a more traditional two-parent family. The metaphor utilized is that a two-parent family is a plane that gets where it's going most of the time; the single-parent family is more like a plane that gets where it is going some of the time, but not a lot of the time. The author alleges that given the choice, most people would choose the plane that has a higher rate of getting where it needs to go (i.e. the two-parent family). This metaphor is effective in that it plays on a fear many people have when it comes to flight - many are afraid to fly due to the perceived danger. Therefore this metaphor works well in that is plays on a more commonly held fear than had the comparison been something more obscure that less people could relate too.

The author's assertions in this section make sense upon first inspection, but when taking a closer look, several things strain the author's credibility. He alleges that single-parent homes are more likely to produce a juvenile delinquent than a two parent home. This in and off itself sounds good. I myself have known several children of single parents who behavior was lacking. This can be easily credited to the lack of a father or mother figure in their life. Alright, so far the author's argument checks out. However, when it comes to two-parent families always being better, I must take issue. Despite the fact that I have known children of single parents who were unruly and restless, I have known many children of two-parent homes that were equally unruly. In some circumstances, a mother or father can be extremely abusive, and damage a child emotionally and physically. In this scenario, it would be better to only have one parent than two when one was abusive.

The author's logic is also stretched a bit thin when we consider the fact that not all children that are products of "happy" two-parent families end up happy and healthy themselves. The unspoken assumption throughout the article is that if a family meets the condition the author has for a happy family, then the offspring of the family will be happy. This is simply not the case. Quite often a child will engage in negative behaviors whether the situation at home is a healthy one or not. While many of the author's ideas make sense, too many of them are simply simplified to black and white terms. It is apparent that the author is looking for a solution to a problem that has been plaguing our country for some time; unfortunately the answer isn't quite as simple as, "make sure all marriages are this way".