Wednesday, November 13, 2002

As a critic of Dr. Moffatt's in the past, I am happy to express my appreciation for his column on "blended families." While the article focused primarily on how to deal effectively with the problems associated with "blending" children from previous marriages, Dr. Moffatt went on to gently recommend that divorced parents consider not dating at all.

Given the emotional pain and confusion likely to result from dating, breaking-up, and then "blending" families in the case of a second or third marriage, Dr. Moffatt's advice contains much wisdom.

His advice is also quite courageous in world where "self-affirmation" and personal happiness are held to be the primary goals of life. By asking divorced parents to forego their own needs in order to ensure the emotional well-being of their children who are already experiencing pain and loss from the divorce Dr. Moffatt clearly affirms the sacrificial nature of parenting.

One hopes that some parents can keep this in mind to the point where, for the good of their children, they refrain from divorcing altogether and commit to the hard work of saving their marriage.

Trey Hoffman

Sharpsburg