'Questions are not neutral" is a truism in ethics. The questions we choose to ask and not to ask, frame an issue and its ensuing debate and, thereby, our responses to that issue.
Here are some basic ideas about the parents' role of moral leadership in the family, often referred to as "discipline."
On my first day of training to become a specialist physician, I could hardly contain my excitement and arrived at the hospital two hours early. I knew no one, as I had arrived from another part of the country on the preceding day, but I introduced myself to the nurses on the maternity ward and looked around at what would be my training ground for the next few months.
There are many infections which may be passed by sexual contact and which have the potential to cause serious damage.
A 9th-grade girl returns to school in the fall to discover that her two best friends during middle school no longer want to eat lunch with her. Over the summer her friends got accepted into a more popular group, and the new group doesn't "like" her. Without warning or explanation she is cast out, alone, desolate.
"Mass is boring." "I don't get anything out of Mass — why should I go?" "Why can't I just pray alone?" These are common feelings, especially among young people but among many adults as well. How should we respond.
In the middle of the room there was a woodburning stove. The small iron door was open on this chilly day, and the red flames could be seen leaping within as if in time to music. For there was music, too, a marching song, and the little girls who circled the stove marched around it in time. The girls were not happy.
My husband and I disagree over whether or not to give allowances to our two sons, ages six and nine. He says they live here, so they should not be paid for chores. I think allowances are a good idea. Your opinion? ¯Fee or Free
