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Originally Posted by fable  But that little gem, written by the late Shel Silverstein, was all about toughening up a kid to be able to deal with the real world. His followup song had to do with the kid and his dad crossdressing, as I recall. Haven't heard the silly thing in years, but Silverstein was a wonderful character.
But how does this justify the government telling your parents what they can and cannot name you? When my mother was growing up, one of her friends was a girl named "Rita Book." That's a terrible thing to do to a kid, but does it require a law to stop it? And what if parents want to raise a child with a name outside the norm, in a religion that isn't the majority religion (or no religion at all), in a household that has two mothers and no father, or a three-parent relatiionship? Should the government be able to stop this to prevent the child from being picked on in early life?  |
Jeez, see? I had no idea Silverstein wrote "A Boy Named Sue." I only know of him through the stuff he did with Dr. Hook.
Personally, with the kind of abuse I see parents comitting virtually every day, I think some sort of regulations are in order. I think that goes for every decision that might harm a child in the future. I know that mindset is unusual in the USA, but that's the way it is here. We do not allow home schooling or schooling based on religious beliefs of any kind. Every child shall by law recieve the same basic education, and then have a chance to pick for themselves. Keeping them away from school is illegal. We don't care if you live in a commune with 8 transsexuals who wear nothing but pink paint, worship snails and ride 3-legged cows to work, your kid is going to school. Also, if you want to call your kid Metallica you're an idiot, but it isn't malicious so you can do it. I hope she grows up to like Barry Manilow. However if you want to name your kid Jihad you obviously have an agenda and you're using your kid to push it. That's just not on. The same goes for some harebrained attempt at pissing to mark your territory by naming your boy Elisabeth. This has obviously been tried since there is a law against it. Grownups are simply not allowed to use their kids for their own twisted purposes, and as long as people are trying to do it there will be laws against it. In an ideal world there wouldn't be.
Edit: a name I like is Adriana. Has a nice regal ring to it and isn't as common as it's male counterpart.