Reconsidering Parenthood

Apparently my husband and I really lucked out as parents. We had one child, now an adult, who has not slit our throats, shot us while we were sleeping, trashed our home or robbed us. Instead he is consistently loving and kind, calls and visits often, brings us gifts and wishes us only well.

Killing one's parents is called parricide, a crime that occurs approximately 20 times every year in America. Experts who study such things have concluded that the typical offender is an unmarried white male in his 20s or 30s, unemployed and living with his parents at the time of the offense. 

Besides that heinous outcome of parenthood (recently suffered by entertainment icon Rob Reiner and his wife Michele), there is a growing presence of mothers online who are estranged from their adult children. Several of these women are profiled in today's Wall Street Journal, all claiming that despite having been perfect mothers their children despise them. More and more of them are coming out, posting videos on TikTok and even writing books on the subject.

Cats are nice. Or maybe get a puppy.