[quote=harvey][quote=davelj]There are innumerable books and articles on the subject – “Why Women like Bad Boys,” etc etc etc. [/quote]
Yes, that is very strong evidence. There are a lot of books on the subject, so it must be true. There are also a lot of books about vampires these days.
Please re-read my posts and note that I haven’t attempted to define “dumbass guys” anywhere.
I’m really just not following your point, or understanding what prompted such harsh – and almost personal – words directed at flu.
It’s pretty clear that all flu was saying that if you raise your daughter with certain values they will have more wisdom in their choice of men. Of course he wasn’t claiming that there are absolute guarantees when it comes to raising children.
[/quote]
Allow me to quote flu’s post:
“It all has to do with self-esteem and self-respect. As my sibling put it, she didn’t need to hang out with ‘dumb people’.” (“dumbass guys” was referenced elsewhere.)
That message seems pretty absolute to me. But perhaps use of the word “all” was an oversimplification on his part.
[quote=harvey]
There is definitely a correlation between good/bad parenting and women who find themselves in good/bad relationships. Not a perfect correlation, but a strong one. You seem to be arguing fairly passionately – and cynically to the point of bitterness – that there is not.[/quote]
You use the word “definitely” and I’m not sure where your proof lies. This might be the case. And it might not. Frankly, I would like to think that it is. I just haven’t seen much evidence of it. I think “attraction” to a large extent lies outside of good/bad parenting. (But I’m happy to be proven wrong here – I have no children and no dog in this fight.)
This is slightly off-topic, but related. My understanding is that if one spouse comes from parents who divorced, the couple is twice as likely to divorce than if both spouses came from in-tact households. So, one could argue that parenting (and remaining married) impacts divorce statistics. But… how do we know that these people staying married are any happier than those that got divorced? Maybe they’re just staying together because of “parenting” and the notion that they’re “supposed” to stay together.
Again, perhaps parenting does positively impact “affairs of the heart”. I just haven’t seen much evidence of it. But that doesn’t mean it’s not the case.
But I don’t think that using words like “definitely” and “all” bolster anyone’s case without proof to back up use of these absolutes.
