Jennifer Aniston Not 'Destructive,' Say Parenting Experts
Bill O'Reilly may think that
Jennifer Aniston is
"destructive to society" and sending kids the wrong message because her new movie, 'The Switch,' is about a single woman having a baby without a man. But parenting experts say the host of FOX News' 'The O'Reilly Factor' is out of tune with modern families.
"It's unrealistic and not in touch with how family is changing," social psychologist
Susan Newman, author of 'Parenting an Only Child,' tells
PopEater. "The traditional family that we have always known as mom, dad and two kids is no longer the traditional family."
O'Reilly took on the 41-year-old actress after she made comments while promoting the film, which co-stars Jason Bateman and sees Aniston playing a woman who decides to have a baby using a sperm donor and artificial insemination.
"Women are realizing more and more that you don't have to settle, they don't have to fiddle with a man to have that child," Aniston said. "They are realizing if it's that time in their life and they want this part they can do it with or without that."
Some speculate that the currently single Aniston may have been offering a hint about her own possible plans for motherhood. But O'Reilly said the star's remarks were irresponsible because she's a role model to children.
"She's throwing a message out to 12-year-olds and 13-year-olds that, 'Hey you don't need a guy. You don't need a dad.' That is destructive to our society," he said.
Studies say otherwise and have shown that isn't the case, according to Newman.
"Children of single parents do just as well as kids who have two parents," she says. "There's nothing in the research that says having a baby by yourself is a terrible thing."
Another parental advocate says younger kids probably didn't even hear Aniston's comments.
"I don't think 12- or 13-year-olds are paying attention to what Jennifer Aniston says or even know who she is for that matter," Beth Feldman, founder of
Role Mommy, tells PopEater. "Jen's message is meant for 30- and 40-something women who haven't yet met the love of their life -- and she's right on target."
Later in his diatribe, O'Reilly lambasted the actress for dismissing dads.
"Jennifer Aniston can hire a battery of people to help her," he argued. "But she can't hire a dad. Dads bring a psychology to children that in this society is under emphasized. Men get hosed all day long in the parental arena ... The fathers that do try hard are under appreciated and diminished by people like Jennifer Aniston."
Feldman says the TV personality was out of line and over-the-top when he attacked Aniston.
"Bill O'Reilly went overboard in his condemnation of Jennifer Aniston," she says. "Dads definitely play an important role in the lives of their children, but if a single woman ... wants to raise a child without the support of a man and if that woman happens to be Jennifer Aniston, then I say go for it. In the end, that baby is going to be the luckiest boy or girl on the planet!"
About 41 percent of newborns have single mothers, according to the Pew Research Center. Newman says that if there isn't a father in the picture, a woman can make sure male role models play a significant part in the child's life.
Parenting expert and psychologist
Carl Pickhardt says that while fathers are important, even more crucial to a baby's well-being is "the quality of parental commitment to raising that child after it is born."
"It is a prejudice that single parents -- mostly moms -- are deficient parents," he tells PopEater. "In fact, they are among the strongest and most resourceful parents I see."
No matter what O'Reilly thinks about women having babies alone, he needs to accept it, according to Newman.
"It's actually a reality -- it's what's happening in society," she says. "Women are more independent, they're waiting longer to have children and they don't necessarily have to wait for Mr. Right because they have the family and financial support they need."
But though about 80 percent of single parents are mothers, having a man around is key to a child's development too, according to Pickhardt. In his book, 'The Connected Father,' he outlines the ways dads can contribute, especially during the difficult teen years.
"If the movie asks the question, 'Why shouldn't a woman make a child without having a father in the picture?' there is only this: An involved father can enrich the family life of all concerned," he says.
In the end, O'Reilly and others acting outraged by the movie and its lead actress may be taking it all just a little too seriously.
"I think everybody is missing the point. This is a romantic comedy," says Newman. "It's for laughs and for fun and it's a good story. I don't think she's sending messages that everybody should go out and have a baby as a single woman."
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Good for you. One day you can tell you children how you got knocked up by a drunken construction worker, or a lab sample and a turkey baster.
Bill O'Rielly is more destructive to kids than Jennifer could ever
be. Jennifer is only speaking the truth, I totally agree with her;
you don't need to marry a man to have children; look at Angelina &
Brad. And she's a stalker with kids. Go figure. With todays divorce
rate, who knows which is the right way anymore.
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Go find your Guido. Your children will not care to ever have known a dad. Teach them your selfish acts.
Bill O'Reilly should consult conservative family value expert Sarah Palin who BTW has a husband.
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You two think Bill O'Reilly knows best. PLEASE!!!!!
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O'Reilly is just looking to increase his ratings. He is oh so yesterday and appeals largely to the geriatric set who love to live in the past.
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Parenting " Experts " ???? ...... What ... in BIZARRO WORLD ?? .... LMAO !!!
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ah yes...Bill O'Reilly , parenting guru...so tell me Bill how all the stories of child abuse primarily include a two parent family wherein the Father is the most abusive, either sexually, or physically/verbally....nice model...yes, let's force kids to grow up in a situation wherein they might get raped, or beaten just to "maintain societal structure"....yup...real good idea that one...
better one loving parent than two where one of them is abusive and another is an enabler...
and by the way...O'Reilly doesn't study parenting, he simple opines about it and as we all know opinions are like buttholes...everyone has them...but it doesn't make them all accurate...
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Oh, I get it. If there's a father in the house the kids get raped, beaten, or tortured. What do you do all day, Mike, smoke crack with Michael Moore and other America haters. Kids need dads. Period. Real dads.
and yet you and others like you are willing to take O'reilly's opinion as an expert on parenting and anything and everything else...double standard much?
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Michael, I would listen to O'Reilly before listening to a social psychologist. Social psychologist, only the insane like you listen to them.
I'm very curious about this quote: "'Children of single parents do just as well as kids who have two parents," she says. "There's nothing in the research that says having a baby by yourself is a terrible thing.'"
My understanding is that there's PLENTY of research to suggest that children of single parents, have higher rates of criminality, and incarceration, lower life expectancies, higher rates of disease, etc.
In fact, I remember one study, referenced in an article by Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt that suggested that the single most effective predictive factor in future criminality of a child is the lack of a two-parent household.
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Did you look to see if the studies included other factors like the relationship between single parent families and the presence of mental disorders like ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia. Have you looked into the possibility that being a single parent is a symptom and not the cause of future criminality. If you look at the profiles of "criminals" you'll find extensive mental illness. Is that single parent family that way because of other factors that you fail to consider? Life is o so simple for those who chose to look a life so superficially like o'reilly who is a knee jerk reactor, not much deep thought but he does resonate to his listeners who are likewise reactors.
I have heard of the same studies. I applaud single women (or men) who have the hard task of raising children while bringing home the bacon. But it is just flat easier with two parents I don't care what the so-called experts say. The issue is not whether you CAN raise a child without a father present. Everyone knows you can. The question is whether that is preferable. Ask any child of a two parent household. How many do you think would say I really would have been better off without my dad?
Unbelievable! Here we go again where we see this washed up actress with NO REAL talent opening her mouth for attention. Believe me, from a REAL parent of a daughter, YES indeed 12 and 13 year old girls are listening. How bloody stupid are women out there defending JA. I want to gag as I do when I hear and see what she has to say or is doing. Get over Brad JA, no wonder he left you. Young girls and Young women hear and listen to her. We have ENOUGH out of wedlock babies INCLUDING THE BRAIN DEAD ACTRESSES HAVING THEM AS WELL. THESE WOMEN AT NOT GOOD EXAMPLES FOR OUR GIRLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Jennifer Aniston paid this expert thousands of dollar for image control. She has been a bad influence since she posed nude in a magazine and switches sex partners every month.
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every one is an expert on women, race horses and raising kids..... look at the moral directtion this country has turned. Do these "experts" actually think our country has gone in the right direction in the last decade? Sadly they probably do! imbiciles!
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Miss Aniston is absolutely right. A woman needs only sperm to procreate, and she can get that at her local sperm bank. She doesn't need a man, marriage and all that rot to propagate the species.
Furthermore, an intelligent, independent woman not only does not need a man to be happy or successful, or to feel good about herself, but would likely feel constrained by one. Men tend to want to "run" things, including -- and possibly starting with -- his wife.
O'Reilly is from a very different generation, AND he is paid handsomely to say stuff like this. If it generates "buzz", so much the better. He's just doing what he's paid to do, however ridiculous that is.
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I agree with Bill O'Reilly!I would hazard a guess that not one of the experts who weighed in on this issue were speaking from a Conservative Christian viewpoint. A person who does not embrace the importance of Family values would see nothing wrong with Aniston's statement She is a role model whether she wants to be or not.We have way to many children being born to single mothers who have no significant male role models in their lives.Who send the clears message that they dont need nor want a man in their life. Woman of privilage (which Aniston is) can easily say
those things. They have the financial means to pay a nanny whose gonna end up raising their children for them anyway.
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You are wrong Ann OReily is a moron