Categories
· Pregnancy
· Letter
· Op-Ed
· Parenting / Family issues
|
Adapted from a recent online discussion (continued from yesterday):
Jump to full article: The Washington Post, 2008-03-18
Author: Carolyn Hax
Intro: I 100 percent totally agree with your answer [in support of the husband who doesn't want a baby until his wife quits smoking]. It is one thing to be married to an immature smoker; it is quite another to watch her become mother to your child(ren).
So my question is: Where and when do you draw that line?
I've seen you be more compassionate to alcoholics than to this smoker.
I'm sorry. I feel no compassion for someone who prepares for pregnancy by going off birth control, but not even trying to quit smoking. The nicotine may be an addiction, but there's no addiction to children -- they can wait. I would come up equally empty for an alcoholic who made a similar, independent-of-the-addiction choice. It is naked self-centeredness. The better comparison would be to hold up my record of compassion for that, not for alcoholism.
Jump to full article » |