SHOULD YOU NEED
A LICENSE TO BE A PARENT?
Dr. Alvin Poussaint
excerpt reprinted from Parenting;
November 1994
Alvin Poussaint,
M.D., is a founding member of Prepare Tomorrows’
Parents Advisory Board. He is Professor of Psychiatry,
It would be very nice if we
could require licenses in order for people to become parents, but we couldn't
enforce it. Instead, I advocate that all high-school students -- male and
female -- be required to take a class in childrearing. It should be hands-on;
students would follow the growth of a child from birth through six months,
visit Head Start programs, and visit a maternity ward. This would ensure that
everyone would have at least a rudimentary knowledge of child development. Even
if they only remember 20 percent of it by the time they have kids, that's a big
step toward improving the quality of parenting in this country.
This is the most important job we have to do
as humans and as citizens. If we can offer classes in auto mechanics and home
economics and civics, why not parenting? A lot of what happens to children
that's bad derives from ignorance. Parents often hit a child because they don't
understand the "terrible twos." You'd be amazed at what so many
parents don't know. They go by folklore, or by what they've heard, or by their
instincts, all of which can be very wrong.
Presumably, if students took a class, they
would have to pass it, and this would be the equivalent of a license. 