Wow — Dr. Phil takes on the many faces of the modern family. In the intro clip he does say “There’s no right or wrong way to have a family.” However, the article on his site gives it a good shot, but does not get to the heart of the matter… On the show he interviews a childfree couple, and the woman remarks that while she had concerns about a change in lifestyle, he does not seem to take seriously the fact that she says that she and her husband just do not have a burning desire to be parents. This is what I found in interviewing couples when conducting interview research for Families of Two. Underneath their relationship, financial and lifestyle concerns was often a genuine lack of desire to be a parent. And for others, their level of desire to become parents just did not outweigh their concerns about becoming parents.
He also says that “some” parents express having regret, which is ironic because.. ..he has also surveyed Lots of parents in the past and reported that over half would not make the same choice if they had the chance to do it again. Why doesn’t he bring this up in this segment??
Kudos though to what he says about people who are pressuring you to have kids. To this he says, “You cannot give your power away to those people.” When you let others’ pressure get to you that is what it is…giving your power away.
The good news is we the childfree are getting more light shed on us. Getting on Dr. Phil is a sign. Me appearing on The Early Show, Good Morning America and other talk shows and lots and lots of radio has been a sign…But we have a ways to go. Starting with the wanna be grandmother on the show who wanted Dr Phil to convince the childfree couple to have kids! The right question there should have been–Why do YOU want to be a grandparent?
Check out Dr. Phil on this–how do you think he could have handled this segment better?