Michael P. Farris, Esq.
Chairman &
General Counsel

Is Traditional Marriage Really the Best Environment for Children?

Volume 51, Program 3 3/3/2004

Please note: This interview was recorded a number of weeks ago. The discussion of the need for a constitutional amendment defining marriage was general and should not be understood to contain any special endorsement of specific language. To learn participants' positions on particular language, Home School Heartbeat listeners are encouraged to visit HSLDA's federal news page at nche.hslda.org and Focus on the Family's website at www.family.org.

Is traditional marriage really the best environment for children? Michael Farris and Dr. James Dobson discuss the contribution of a stable marriage to a child's health on today's Home School Heartbeat.

Mike Farris:
Jim, just how important is the traditional family for the upbringing of healthy children?

Dr. James Dobson:
Mike, social scientists are known to argue with each other about nearly everything, but there's almost total unanimity between them on the importance of the traditional two-parent family when it comes to raising children. Yes, single parents often bring up healthy kids, and they do a great job in a very difficult situation. But every index of well-being among children shows that those raised in traditional families are in lower-risk categories for school learning problems, adolescent misbehavior, physical illness, drug and alcohol usage, suicide, mental health problems, and on and on it goes.

In my book, Bringing Up Boys, I wrote about that fact that boys in particular suffer more from divorce than girls do. And if the trend toward disintegrating families continues, we can predict a higher incidence of social chaos among men in the future-more crime, more mental illness, and every other measure of health for the nation.

The family is critical.

Mike:
Jim, [a] federal marriage amendment will help us have healthier kids. I encourage our listeners to support it. I'm Mike Farris.