Parenting

“Say what you want to say about me,” Palin said, “but I raised a combat vet. You can’t take that away from me.”

I truly don't understand what she's saying here. She raised a son who grew up to make his own decisions about which institutions and ideals to support. That's parenting in a nutshell. Does she want accolades for happening to be the mother of her son, because when her son was able to make his own decisions about which institutions and ideals to support, he decided to support institutions and ideals whose aims his mom happened to agree with?

If he'd decided to support an institution or ideal she did not agree with, would she then reject identical accolades from those who told her that she must be proud to have raised such a courageous, self-aware, self-sacrificing child, because the institution or ideal he decided to support was something she could not support?

Why does it seem like she wants to take credit for a decision her son made because she is his parent? It's not just Palin--my parents do this too, and I think a lot of parents do. If we make decisions that our parents agree with, they say that it's because they raised us right, and if we make decisions our parents disagree with, they not only say that they can't support our decision, but wonder where they went wrong raising us. It's natural for a parent to rejoice at the success of a child and be sad at their child's failures. But the measure of success of a parent as a parent must be composed of more than the parent's perception of what their child's successes or failures are, and the measure of success of a human being who has children must be composed of more than that human's perceived success or failure as a parent.

Happy Birthday!

Argh, rushthatspeaks! I forgot to wish you a happy birthday while you were on the phone! So I will wish you one now.