It may be that the daughter's girlfriend isn't able to become pregnant, or simply doesn't want to be pregnant. That's not saying that she doesn't want a child, but hell, the idea of me becoming pregnant makes me die a little inside. So that may be it.
Either way, Between The Lines is an absolute asshole. My mother always hammered into me the concept of unconditional love. When you're a family, you fucking stick together. End of story. You stand up for each other, you are there for one another, you bleed for one another if you have to. And if a family member does something wrong -- steals or murders or any other crime -- you continue to love them. You don't make excuses for them, you don't cover up what they did, you don't say that what they did was okay, but you don't ever, ever stop loving them. And if a family member chooses to pursue a life that you would never choose for yourself, you continue to fucking love them anyway.
Do you know what love is? Love is being able to say, "I want you to be happy, even if it isn't because of me. I want you to be happy, even if I don't agree with what you want." That's real love.
@ Fed Up:
You said the following:
"while there are still male role models, none of them, imo, is really going to compare to a father. I've never been in both situations, so I can't give a first hand comparison, but it would seem to make sense that parents are likely to have a greater emotional bond with their children."
"I've never been in both situations," you say. And then you presume to tell us that a child needs a mother and a father? That's bullshit. As someone who grew up with a father, but not a dad, I am telling you that it's bullshit. I have almost no emotional connection to my father, and I don't truly consider him my family. He's a good man, but so are plenty of men who shouldn't have been fathers; he never understood how to be a dad instead of the equivalent of a guy who just happens to live with us. So far as "conventional" family roles go, I have taken on the role of the father figure for my younger brother. My mother may as well have raised me by herself, and once I became old enough, I raised my brother with her.
Don't give me that bullshit about a child needing a male and a female role model. I am perfectly well-adjusted. My brother is well-adjusted. I will admit that I feel a bit cheated that I didn't have a dad, but that's only because he was there, and he wouldn't be my dad. There are few things as painful as reaching out to your father and having him never try to take your hand. The times I was happiest and at my most stable were the times when it was just my mom, my brother, and me.
Don't you dare tell me that I "needed" a father. My mother gave me everything I ever could have asked for, and more. Don't you fucking dare insult her by saying that it isn't enough.
