Jack C. Westman, M.D., President, Wisconsin Cares, Inc., and Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry
at University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health seeks your advice. Here's the background:
Jack is writing a book that describes why we all need to care about the 4% of parents who abuse and neglect their kids, and in which he proposes solutions. He asks for help to find a title that would capture the interest of thoughtful people. Please read the synopsis and vote on a title in your comments.
Book synopsis:
This book begins with examples of how parents and fragmented professional care create troubled (and even homicidal) young men and women and contribute to our nation's social and economic problems. It ends with a plan for giving all children born in the United States parents who can give them a chance to become productive citizens.
The social/economic impetus for this kind of plan is that parents who raise a productive taxpayer contribute $1.4 million to our economy. Parents whose child becomes a criminal (or welfare dependent) cost our economy $2.8 million per child. (26% of state & 45% of county expenditures are used for this population). One solution begins with a Parenthood Pledge as a part of a birth certificate.
In your comments below, please let us know your opinion on which title would most attract your attention:
1) A Parenthood Pledge: The key to America's prosperity
2) Parent Power: America's problem and solution
3) Parents Matter: Incompetent parents cause social problems. Competent parents prevent them.
4) The Denigration of Parenthood: How presuming anyone can be a parent undermines our nation's economy.
5) Competent Parents: The foundation of America's economy
6) Any other title?
Jack is writing a book that describes why we all need to care about the 4% of parents who abuse and neglect their kids, and in which he proposes solutions. He asks for help to find a title that would capture the interest of thoughtful people. Please read the synopsis and vote on a title in your comments.
Book synopsis:
This book begins with examples of how parents and fragmented professional care create troubled (and even homicidal) young men and women and contribute to our nation's social and economic problems. It ends with a plan for giving all children born in the United States parents who can give them a chance to become productive citizens.
The social/economic impetus for this kind of plan is that parents who raise a productive taxpayer contribute $1.4 million to our economy. Parents whose child becomes a criminal (or welfare dependent) cost our economy $2.8 million per child. (26% of state & 45% of county expenditures are used for this population). One solution begins with a Parenthood Pledge as a part of a birth certificate.
In your comments below, please let us know your opinion on which title would most attract your attention:
1) A Parenthood Pledge: The key to America's prosperity
2) Parent Power: America's problem and solution
3) Parents Matter: Incompetent parents cause social problems. Competent parents prevent them.
4) The Denigration of Parenthood: How presuming anyone can be a parent undermines our nation's economy.
5) Competent Parents: The foundation of America's economy
6) Any other title?
14 comments:
I Blame the Parents: How bad parenting undermines America's prosperity
or
The Power of Parenting: America's problem and solution.
5 the competent parent
number 4. The Denigration of Parenthood: How presuming anyone can be a parent undermines our nation's economy.
How about Unlicensed; do parents need a learners permit?
1) A Parenthood Pledge: The key to America's prosperity
Pledge sounds like it's going to ask me for money, run away!
2) Parent Power: America's problem and solution
Best one here. Alliteration. We like power but understand it's dangerous. I see it and wonder whether it means good power or bad power... and I finish reading and see it's both.
3) Parents Matter: Incompetent parents cause social problems. Competent parents prevent them.
Uninspiring
4) The Denigration of Parenthood: How presuming anyone can be a parent undermines our nation's economy.
Too negative.
5) Competent Parents: The foundation of America's economy
Too boring.
6) Any other title?
Oh, but it's so much easier to just critique! :)
I wasn't inspired by any of the choices, but I like hospitaldoctor's idea of
Unlicensed: do parents need a learner's permit?
or perhaps "Unlicensed parenting" or something to get the word parent into the actual title?
nonlocal
Parent Power: America's problem and solution
I have to be honest, these titles really didn't catch me - but what did catch me was the extraordinaire cost criminals have on our society -- now THAT I would be interested in know more about!
Why not offering more of an emotional appeal to bring all parents into his vision of the future instead of restating what I know? We all know bad parenting exists, but if I'm not a bad parent, why do I want to read it? I need to feel the impact of parenting on society and get wrapped into the emotional need to be part of the change.
The Future of parenting: how abuse and neglect impacts all of us and how we can stop it
Parenting 3.0: Creating productive children and ending the cycle of criminal and welfare dependent state
The new global parent: how abuse and neglect impacts our society and a parenthood pledge for a healthier and stronger future
Thanks for sharing this with us. It has a very compelling mission, one that I think every parent can back up.
Amber
Parenting 3.0: Creating productive children and ending the cycle of criminal and welfare dependent state
Option 6) Any other title?
How about… “Competent Parents: The invisible contributor to reversing America’s economic problems.”
Thanks, I truly appreciate your thought provoking blog, and the opportunity it creates for many of us to be exposed to expert transparent innovation that would otherwise be difficult to access in such a succinct format.
I believe a Parenthood Pledge is a great idea, in the absence of a handbook !
I do think anything included as part of the birth certificate be addressed to the "lowest common denominator", therefore, I would entitle it as simply "Parenthood Pledge" with a bulleted list (again simplicity should guide the verbiage) of pledges. (Active parenting, healthy diets (with appropriate age-guided menus to take home), interactive play ideas, age-appropriate comforting and discipline, etc.)
May I suggest: "Parenting Matters: Why Working to Reduce Bad Parenting and Increase Good Parenting is a Good Investment".
Good Parenting: What works, what doesn't, and why we should care.
Improve Our Parenting, Save Our Kids
Focus On Parents
Parenting for Prosperity
The Parenting Effect: How support for new parents can improve our families, community, and society.
Pledge to Succeed: How we can help new parents and their kids start off right.
When The Bough Breaks: Helping parents help their kids when things go wrong
Intentional Success: How pledging to be a good parent can help you become one.
I personally like #4
4) The Denigration of Parenthood: How presuming anyone can be a parent undermines our nation's economy.
it has the words that sum up the main thrust of the book: parenthood and economy (interesting pairing, I might add).
I hesitate to use the word denigration because it may be mistakenly associated with race, but I don't think it will among the members of the social strata to which this subject matter would appeal.
One person sees this title as negative. I think that is part of the reason I like it. It shocks.
Please let us know what the doctor decides!
Dawn
As someone else wisely indicated, it's so much easier to critique than to create! In addition to my "real" work, I have for many years worked with parents of kids that don't fit the mold, running support and education groups. In that time, I have worked with truly excellent parents whose children have become criminals and/or ended up on welfare. I have also had the chance to meet extraordinary young people whose parents were far from competent. All this to say that while abuse and neglect are always appalling, "competence" in parenting isn't always correlated with good outcomes. For this reason, I would love to see the title point to 'abusive' and 'neglectful parenting' specifically, rather than 'competence'. A solution-focused slant is also a bigger draw, I sense. Something like: Building our Future: Solving the social ills of abusive and neglectful parenting.
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