would want to see a contract between the parents and the kids.
You can't make a contact with a newborn baby. You can make promises to it, but not a contract with it.
And who can enforce the promises?
And what would be different about this contract than now exists in statutes that require the parent to support and care for the child? If the statutes aren't working, why would a contract work? And would everybody have to sign the same contract (in which case, it really is simply a statute under a different name), or could different people make different contracts, so that,for example, I promise to read to my child one hour a night while person X promises to drink beer and watch football with their kid every weekend?
My approach is more
focused on the planning of the children and the understanding of what sacrifices that requires so that people will be
more thoughtful and proactive about it rather than on what, exactly, they are committing to.
That's a great theory. Responsible churches do premarital counseling for precisely this reason, so marriage works for that in many situations. But if you "require" things, you have to have a way to enforce them, which means laws, which should chill your libertarian soul! <g>
But maybe better for me--could I bring suit against Bill Gates for being too wrapped up in his work and not spending enough quality time with his kid? |
