Does gender of parents matter or number of parents?

[tenni]

Having two parents matters. Their gender doesn’t, according to a new study.

A pair of American sociologists spent five years sifting through all the available literature contrasting the outcomes for children raised in traditional families with those raised by a same-sex couple. Their conclusion: no substantive difference at all.

Two parents usually are better than one. Not always. That’s another, more complicated story. But it certainly has nothing to do with whether (the parents are) male or female.”

Since the issue of “fatherless boys” is front-and-centre in those debates, Stacey particularly wanted to debunk the myth that boys suffered.

“The unstated – or maybe stated – fear is that they’ll be ‘sissies’ or ‘wimps.’ There’s no evidence for that. There’s a teeny bit of evidence that boys with two mothers were just as masculine on the scales that we use to measure such things, but they did turn out a little bit higher on their feminine scale,” Stacey said.

http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/newsfeatures/article/754538--two-moms-are-as-good-as-a-mom-and-a-dad-study

[Long Duck Dong]

I will be dead honest, I am the type of person that believes, it doesn't really matter what the gender or sexuality of *parents * is.... its what they teach them and how they bring them up.... that is the key.....

kids can grow up without empathy towards LBGT people, but its *parents * that can teach them how to hate the lgbt and give that hate a reason....

I use the term empathy, because there is a difference between taught acceptance and tolerance, and natural acceptance and tolerance.....
* I tolerate them, doesn't mean I will associate with them or respect them* V's * I will walk and talk with them, eat and drink, laugh and cry with them, but I will never be LGBT "

we do the big * perfect people crap *, but, the only way we can do that, is genetically engineer the kids then brain wash the fuck outta them.....

if I have one child that was straight, one that was gay, one that was bi and one that was trans.... I can never make them be the way society would like with totally and blind acceptance.... and like empathy / sexuality and personality traits, each child will grow up differently and i can not make them be loving, feeling, 100% tolerant etc, of straights / lgbt any more than I can change their sexuality..... and the reason is simple.... somethings are traits in the kids.... something we can not magically alter without doing a lobotomy on the kids


until my dying day, I will always be able to relate more empathically to abboriginals, scottish / irish / welsh, native american indians etc compared to other cultures and races.... and its nothing that has been taught to me or a result of my broken home / double divorce etc etc.... its just that I can not connect to some races

now that I have rambled on and confused the hell outta every body

I see the same patterns in kids with same sex, opposite sex, two and one parent families...... their own nature and personality and then what they are taught, makes the most difference.... not what their parents do in the bedroom

[TwylaTwobits]

Personally for me I was raised to have a brain. My parents don't like it now that I have used that brain and not only fell in love with someone in another country but actuallly went to live with him for 3 months with plans to come back permanently. But then hell they are Republicans too, I'm Democrat (DO NOT START PLEASE IT'S AN EXAMPLE)

My father and his brothers were racist as hell, some of my best friends were black cause I didn't see a skin color I saw a person. My cousin married a man from Jamaica and told him at the wedding her dad and uncles would as soon hang him as look at him. He has been a member of our family for 9 years and a welcome member to every home.

The same applies to sexuality, yes you can teach your children about it, but you can't force them to be anything. You can teach them to use their brains and to see the world around them in a rainbow of colors vs your black and white. It doesn't matter if it's two parents, one parent, same sex or not.

I have pretty much raised 3 boys on my own, with no help from my worthless ex. My boys are as masculine as you would expect yet they have had nothing but a mother's influence in their formative years.

So to that study.. I say bull. When you discount a child's brain you are left with nothing but a wet dishrag rather than a sponge to soak up everything you say and process it in a way it makes sense to him or her.

[let_em_eat_cock]

Although right-wing politicians use this statistic to promote their own agenda it is, in fact, a statement of the bleeding obvious that two (or even more) parents are generally better than one as tasks can be shared and there's usually much more money coming into the household.

[innaminka]

Speaking personally - my daughters were raised by a str8 dad and an active bisexual mum (moi!!!)
They are 2 of the most delightful well-balanced girls.
They were loved.

My present G/F also has two children b/g and they were raised in a predominantly lesbian houshold, though with a long period with only a single mum.
They are also delightful and well balanced.
They were loved.

My ex husband's new partner has a single child - he's nearly a doctor and by all accounts is charming and personable (I havn't met yet!)
He was the product of a single Mum.
He was loved!!

I could go on. I don't think who or what the family styructure is in these times, the secret is to provide a loving, caring environment for the children.

That's how to produce good kids!

[tenni]

I think that an important feature of this report is that it did examine a wide variety of studies dealing with parenting over a five year period. The most positive thing is to be happy that it states that the gender of two parents does not matter.

It does state that two and not one parent situations tend to work better. The big however is that does not exclude a single parent from doing an excellent parenting job. The pressures of being a single parent falls on one adult shoulder and not two. That makes sense to me. Statistically, it seems that generally two good parents are better than one good parent. The single parent needs to go the extra effort to do the job of two parents. Doesn't that make sense? It doesn't mean that single parenting is bad...just not as easy.