Women and FamiliesOne of the most interesting concepts in the first chapter, The Nuclear Family, is society's insistence on continuing to hold the traditional family structure in higher esteem. It’s like the saying “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” Even though most families aren't traditional, we don't accept it. Coontz (1997) was right to say that "clinging to these nostalgic ideas creates problems for contemporary families." By holding on to this idea that families aren't good enough with a mom, dad and three kids, I think it really stunts the development of strong, clear moral foundations for modern families. If these families are considered secondary and less good to begin with, then we will hesitate to even bother to improve them. It is the children of these families who would benefit most from abandoning the traditional ideal. They need to be sure that their family is as good as anyone else's. Another striking truth about society concerns opinions on motherhood. Ellen Goodman's quote on page 168, "The cultural consensus still says that professional mothers should stay home with the children while welfare mothers should work outside the home" strikes me as really funny that there has such hypocrisy about whether mothers should work or not. . It's like everyone has a simple, perfect solution, but it's not perfect. If you are poor, you should work, but if you work, you are not a good mother. A single mother can't win! Also on page 168, a court case was mentioned in which a criminal father was granted custody of a child, rather than giving custody to the child's lesbian mother. This is just outrageous for anyone, especially someone in a powerful position...... middle of paper...... think about it, I remember at least one or two mothers who abused their children, but everyone watered him to a deserved punishment. The part where the mother brags about how she controls her son by pinching him and then asks the reader to imagine it happening in a situation between a man and a woman really captivated me. I never thought about the little abuses that children suffer, probably because I haven't experienced it myself. But I know it happens every day and I find it appalling that the United States has not signed the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. There is one thing after another that makes me question the sanity of our politicians. In chapter 14 of bell hooks I thought it was interesting, I expected men to be willing to accept equality in the bedroom because they were having better sex, but refusing to 'accept equality in the home by helping a little..