Parents often feel like theyre swimming upstream when it comes to raising their kids and protecting their family life. It can feel almost impossible to make a living, get to every soccer game and band concert, and carve out a little personal space to keep from going loony.
Danny Duncan Collum, one of our regular contributors, wrote a column some months ago on the perils of parenting, and it struck such a chord among our readers (and parents here) that we asked him to consider the subject in more depth. How did parenting get to be so hard?
Here, he and his wife, Polly, parents of three, try to answer that question by looking at the cultural and economic changes of the last few decades. They also write about strategies for resisting the plague of consumption they and other parents experience, as well as some legislative policies that would lessen the economic death grip in which many of us liveparents and non-parents alike.
We also speak with Mary Ann and Greg Welter, who have raised 13 kids over 25 years and were longtime members of Sojourners early worshipping community. Apart from a lot of prayer, howand whydo they do it? Part of the answer, Mary Ann says, is walking alongside your kids and realizing you cant control every outcome. But as they and our other writers note, there are individual and societal decisions we can all make to help life in the parent lane run a little smoother.
The Editors
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