(no subject)

(From the one and only Potterfic I will probably ever read) Snape opens a closet and sees two of the (legally old enough to do this) students locked in a passionate embrace:

"Well." Snape began. "This was a sight....I could have lived without seeing."



You and me both, sir.

parental musings

Today's CRT class was on race and parenting. Specifically, biracial children and their parents, IVF mistakes that come to light because someone gives birth to a baby of the 'wrong' race, and adoption/fostering of children from different races.

Interesting discussion. Lots of food for thought. Left me musing about a lot of stuff.

So, if you have the time/interest, help me out here. Answer any/all of the questions below.
(BTW, I know many of you are childfree for life, so feel free to either ignore or play at this from a purely theoretical point of view.)

1. If you could not have children the 'natural' way (and by natural I'm including things like accidentally getting pregnant while acting out a sexual fantasy where you are a Klingon and your partner is Ronald McDonald):
   
   1. Would you consider 'artificial' methods (in vitro, surrogacy, etc)?
      
   2. What methods would you be willing to try? Why?
      
   3. What amount of money/time would you be willing to spend?
      
   4. Would you consider adoption?
      
   5. What would be your 'dream' child in terms of adoption?
      
   6. Would you be willing to consider adopting a child who was not an infant? A different race? Had a disability? Had a 'bad' background (abuse, drug use by pregnant biological mother, AIDS)?
   
   
   
2. If you could have children 'the natural way', would you still want to adopt a child?
   (same as [e] and [f] above)
   
   1. What would be your 'dream' child in terms of adoption?
      
   2. Would you be willing to consider adopting a child who was not an infant? A different race? Had a disability? Had a 'bad' background (abuse, drug use by pregnant biological mother, AIDS)?
   
   
   
3. In the event of a custody dispute between parents, who should 'win', and why?
   
   1. If a woman at an IVF clinic has been accidentally impregnated with another couple's child - no genetic relation to her, and she & her partner are the same race as the child in question. The child has not yet been born.
      
   2. Same as above, but the gestational mother is not the same race as the child she gives birth to.
      
   3. Same as [a], but the child is two years old (let's say that it took that long to discover the error).
      
   4. Same as [b], but the child is two years old (let's say that it took that long to figure out who the genetic parents were, or took that long for the genetic parents to discover they had a genetic child out there).
      
   5. Would your answers for any of the above change if the gestational mother was related to the child? For example, if she was accidentally artificially inseminated with the 'wrong' sperm?
   
   
   
4. Surrogacy:
   
   1. Would you ever consider being a surrogate mother?
      
   2. Why or why not?
      
   3. Under what circumstances?
      
   4. What relationship would you want to have with the child you gave birth to?
   
   
   
5. Egg/sperm donation (just in case any guy is reading this):
   
   1. Would you ever consider being an egg/sperm donor?
      
   2. Why or why not?
      
   3. Under what circumstances?
      
   4. What relationship would you want to have with the child you gave birth to?