The Editor, Sir:

Having parental responsibility means that you have the right to make imperative decisions about your child's life in areas like medical treatment and education.

But it also means that you have the responsibility to financially support your child, at least until the end of a secondary education.

Financial responsibility of a parent is also indispensable for many other reasons, but it has been the only means by which parents have historically managed to maintain control over their children's standard of living and, really, without financial income, parenta is rather unworkable.

When a parent is unemployed, it not only reduces the standard of living, but it can be detrimental and discordant to the child's future.

What kind of education do you envisage for your child, if you're thinking of independent education?

Fees are going up in excess of inflation and are becoming progressively more expensive. Most persons cannot afford to pay school fees out of earned income, so how can it be afforded out of no income at all?

The issue of unemployment and pregnancy is of interest for several reasons. Since it is a marker of socio-economic status, a potential marker of stress and an indicator of poor physical and mental health, unemployed persons usually require more general health services and have more physical and mental health tribulations than their employed counterparts.

With the lack of imagination that is passed off as truth, with so much of the deception concerning stan-dards and values, with so much of the allurement and enticement to take on the 'slow stain' of the world, I have felt to warn and forewarn that it makes absolutely no sense to have a child with both persons unwaged.

I am, etc.,

LERON MATTISON

leronmattison@yahoo.com