title: Doing the best for one's child: satisficing versus optimizing parentalism.
abstract: The maxim "parents should do what is in the best interests of their child" seems like an unassailable truth, and yet, as I argue here, there are serious problems with it when it is taken seriously. One problem concerns the sort of demands such a principle places on parents; the other concerns its larger social implications when conceived as part of a national policy for the rearing of children. The theory of parenting that creates these problems I call "optimizing parentalism." To avoid them, I define and defend a new and more morally appealing theory, "satisficing parentalism."
authors.affiliation: City College, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA. jblustein@ccny.cuny.edu
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Blustein
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002668:Child Rearing; D002669:Child Welfare; D026689:Ethical Analysis; D028663:Ethical Theory; D005190:Family; D006801:Humans; D028681:Moral Obligations; D016487:Parenting; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D014481:United States