An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
Moral Decline
Census: Fewer Tenn. kids living in married homes
Newly released Census data finds that fewer Tennessee children live in homes with married parents and more children are living with a single parent or with a grandparent compared to a decade ago.
According to the census data released this month, 58 percent of children lived in a married family household in Tennessee in 2010, which includes remarried parents and step families. That’s down from 64 percent in 2000.
It’s been proven that kids who grow up with their family intact do much better in life in general. Since the 60s, we have seen a moral decline that should make us ashamed. However, since shame doesn’t seem to be in the American vocabulary anymore, I guess people just accept the fact that kids are growing up without one of their parents in the home.
Once upon a time, when an unmarried teen girl turned up pregnant, she didn’t brag about it, or show off her big belly in school. She’d likely be sent away to a ‘boarding school’, or to live with a relative, until she gave birth, and then the baby was usually given up for adoption. Now? Girls too young to understand the ramifications of pregnancy, are popping out babies like rabbits in heat.
Once upon a time, moms and dad would have arguments, throw things maybe, get really angry, and yet….they’d find a way to work it out, and continue with their lives as a family. Now? The least little thing, and poof…..marriage is over. It’s so much easier to be a jackass than to behave like a grownup. We are an extremely selfish society, and if things don’t go our way, we tend to ‘take our ball and go home’. A successful marriage doesn’t just happen. People have to work to achieve success.
Isn’t it time we bring back shame, and grownups? Shouldn’t we think of the damage done to our kids? I don’t blame anyone in particular, but when I look back, I see the beginning of our decline when Madeline Murry O’Hare decided to attack the very moral fiber of our nation. Between Hollywood, the failed public education system, and constant interference of the federal government, it shouldn’t be surprising that we’ve had such a major moral decline. The single parent home is just one indication of the decline.
