My Brother Isn’t Raising His Child Right. Should I Speak Up?

He's forgoing vaccines.

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story May 9, 2020

Illustration by Tomi Um   The Ethicist My Brother Isn’t Raising His Child Right. Should I Speak Up? The magazine’s Ethicist columnist on voicing concerns to a sibling about how he brings up his child and to officemates who embrace coronavirus conspiracies. By Kwame Anthony Appiah

I have strong feelings about the way my brother and his partner are raising their child. They have chosen to forgo all vaccines (my brother says they are “bad medicines that make you sick”), they are home-schooling their child, who behaves in age-inappropriate ways, and they never seem to say the word “no.” I believe my brother knows my opinions on child rearing, but we have never discussed them at length. Do I have a moral obligation to vocalize my views on the off chance that doing so might have a salutatory effect?

Read the Ethicist’s reply here.

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