Ms.Huxtable Posted March 5, 2003 Report Posted March 5, 2003 You discover that your wonderful one-year-old child, because of a mix-up at the hospital, was not yours. Would you want to exchange the child to correct the mistake? Just curious...
SolarGarlic Posted March 5, 2003 Report Posted March 5, 2003 Come on down to the local, yocal, child exchange!! Not yo chile? Life just too darn intensified 'cause of rugrats that isn't yers? ...... oh man, "exchange" your child! Not sure if those two words can be used together
teetervillestation Posted March 5, 2003 Report Posted March 5, 2003 if i thought my genes were all fucked up (and they likely are) and the baby i had looked pretty good and not to fucked up, then I would keep the other persons baby and let them have mine! cause everybody digs a healthy baby!
Swifty Posted March 5, 2003 Report Posted March 5, 2003 As a father of 11 month old twins that question is difficult to answer. I think it would be impossible to "exchange" a child you have bonded with and grown to love as your own. On the other hand knowing that someone else is raising your child would be impossible to deal with. Great question Ms. Hux.!
bouche Posted March 5, 2003 Report Posted March 5, 2003 Hey, I think I saw that story on the Young and the Restless....
bradm Posted March 5, 2003 Report Posted March 5, 2003 I'm gonna think outside the crib on this one. The objective here is to minimize pain and suffering. The problem is that either solution (exchange vs. don't exchange) induces pain and suffering: if you exchange, there's the pain of giving up a child into which you've invested a lot of love and devotion; if you don't exchange, there's the pain of knowing that the flesh of your flesh isn't part of your life. The only solution I can see that avoids both problems is to not exchange, but to merge: create one big family, with both sets of parents, and both children. The parenting responsibilities (including expenses, living arrangements, etc.) would be shared, and the kids would become siblings. This way, there would be continuity of parenting, while allowing the (interrupted) biological relationships to develop. Aloha, Brad
Kitari Posted March 6, 2003 Report Posted March 6, 2003 I think Brad's trying to re-popularize the idea of the commune!! I, for one, am with you brother!
bradm Posted March 6, 2003 Report Posted March 6, 2003 Not necessarily the commune per se, but I'd like the concept of marriage expanded greatly: one-on-one lifetime monogamy (mixed-gender and same-gender), contract marriage, line marriages, communal marriages, etc. One of my all-time favourite books is "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress" by Robert A. Heinlein; it's an SF novel that takes place (mostly) on the moon, in which (as societal background) various forms of marriage are used. I get bummed when I see people claim that (e.g.,) extending the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples "destroys" marriage; it doesn't: it extends it, and still allows people like those who complain to form the kind of marriages they want. Aloha, Brad
Kitari Posted March 6, 2003 Report Posted March 6, 2003 Again - I'm with you Brad. I think that anyone who wants to make a committment to another person (of consenting age) should be able to do so, no matter what the gender mix might be. And hey, polyamourous mariages in other countries have worked pretty well. Though we women usually get the short end of the stick there. But not having to be the sole one responsible for laundry, cooking, cleaning, pleasuring...might be nice. As far as your QotD Ms. Hux - I think I'd probably stick with the child I was raising. Aside from the bond I had formed and the love that grew from that, my biological kids will probably be pretty screwed up! Scrawny little red heads with asthma and transparent English skin. I'd feel sorry for the other guy with the bubble-boy child of mine!
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