1. What are the reasons for having children? Why might you decide to have children? Why do you think this way?
2. What are the different kinds of "costs" of having children? What are the advantages of having children?
3. Should society take any responsibility for the training of parents? If so what federal, state, or local legislation would you favor?
4. Discuss the Swedish laws prohibiting corporal punishment in public and in the home. Would you support such legislation in the United States? Why or why not?
5. Some of the literature suggests that parenthood is a crisis. Do you agree with this assessment (see Chapter 16 for a definition of crisis). What strategies can be applied to help eliminate this "crisis?"
6. What effects do the presence of children have on marital happiness over the lifecourse?
7. How do families and schools complement each other in socializing children? How do these two institutions sometimes appear to be at odds in dealing with adolescents?
8. What are some dilemmas faced by adolescents in the tug-of-war between parental precepts and peer influences?
9. How do relationships between parents and college-age children change after graduation from high school? How does Becker's concept of situational adjustment apply to a student going off to college for the first time?
10. Why is middle age sometimes referred to as a crisis? Cite reasons why you think a restlessness in the marital relationship may occur when couples are in their forties.

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