Because they have been traumatized by their family relationships, many persons experience anxiety in intimate relationships and tend to avoid or disrupt them. Compounding all of this is the tendency of the generous side of our society abetted by commercial interests to turn to child caring institutions, schools, professionals, and volunteers to fill in when parents fail. There is a strong tendency to avoid holding parents as responsible for their actions with their own children as they are for their actions with persons outside of the family. The persistent belief that children are the property of their parents remains strong in spite of the efforts of child advocates in the legal system. Although the pressures of change have negative effects, they also provide opportunities for constructive developments.
Many fathers now participate more significantly in their children's lives than in the past.
Many women and men choose to give their careers as parents as much or more priority as their remunerated work. Many foundering parents are receiving education and support. There is a trend toward shifting the helping focus from children and their families as freestanding units to children and parents as vital members of neighborhoods and communities. This paradigm shift from society valuing only remunerated work to valuing parenthood as well would produce dramatic reductions in our social problems and dramatic improvements in personal well-being.