If anyone thinks that raising kids in this day and age is easy...well it would seem to me that someone does not have any children. Unless you are a very lucky parent whom has never had a bad day concerning thier kids all you can do is provide them with the best education that you can and teach them right from wrong, good from bad. Children of course get more inquisative as time progresses and will do just about anything once, and sometimes once is enough to impead them for the rest of their lives. I think that most people will agree that it does not matter what status their parents hold in society, we are all vunerable.

Amen brother! We are childless by choice and I have a tremendous respect for any parent trying to teach right from wrong. This is a difficult world to raise a child in as they are being bombarded left and right with a multitude of ideas, social pressure, drugs, sex and on and on.
People regardless of age, make mistakes. Hopefully we learn and it makes us better. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. If this is all this girl has done she is way better than I was at that age, so I'll keep my mouth shut.

I've always believed that there are some decisions/choices that we make that make others unavailable to us. Parenting is one of those. Her status is not an issue to me; however, I question the amount of time she'll have for her children if this all goes her way. Do you just look at a five month old and say, "Well, little guy, you're set!" It absolutely is difficult to parent effectively in this day and age, especially so if your presence, attention and energy are so subdivided.

And if she was a man? "I question the amount of time he'll have for his children..." Like Rudy asked, when has that ever been asked of a man?

Anyone consider that it may have been a Family decision, and that Todd will spend a little less time Salmon fishing if she is elected?

One could also factor in that there would perhaps be staff available to assist with childcare while mum was at work?

I think this radical experiment has been tried before with some reasonable success?

Come to think of it there was a Governor from Arkansas who's wife was an Attorney and they had a kid who turned from a duckling into quite the swan?

Note to H20dog, B&G and JHill...google Chelsea's day care status and post scathing retort........

I've never understood the point of having a child and then paying someone else to raise it. Get a dog. or maybe a fish. And no, this "radical experiment" is not reasonably successful. All best-evidence studies regarding how children turn out when left to the care of someone other than parents compared to children who have the consistent presence of a fulltime parent demonstrate the detrimental impact of outside childcare to the former.

That said, I do believe, and recent studies tend to demonstrate, that as long as one parent is home fulltime there is little, if any, difference in outcome based on whether it is the mother as oppossed to the father who is present.


ps. re: Chelsea - yes, there are exceptions, but exception is exactly what they are. And do you really think Mr. Palin is going to stay home and be a fulltime dad? Is that what he did while mommy played governor?

Hey..see that folks?

this time I'm only half an idiot

Should I change my name to Eric?

her gender doesn't matter to me. i just always regret when people (boys and girls) choose to have children and then choose a lifestyle that doesn't support their best parenting-selves. just my opinion.

Are you referring to the horrible comment John McCain made about Chelsea Clinton's appearance? If she were an adult when this statement was made, open season but he said it about a child which is simply inexcusable and cruel. I can't imagine that anyone, regardless of their politics, would think that is okay. Please tell me that you do not see humor in that comment.

Wow. If I had said this about any woman in a powerful and time consuming position, I would have been attacked non-stop for my statement. Mostly by my wife...

The "mommy playing governor" type comments are really going to get a lot of women defending Palin. Not the ideologues, but most women are not ideologues.