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Having children is no longer an assumed duty, it is a lifestyle choice. And for some, it has nothing to do with hating kids, being selfish, or being a cynic who doesn't want to add to the planet's misery. Some people, for whatever reason, just do not want to be parents. End of.
Women have more choices now. Back in the day, they were basically property, completely dependent on their husbands for food and shelter. Look at many of the pictures of women from those eras and you can see the hardness and misery on their faces. Many went to bed each night just hoping that their husbands would go to sleep instead of trying to produce offspring number 14. Life was basically servitude and submission, especially in the lower classes.
As women become better educated and empowered by choices, many are opting to remain single and often childfree, enjoying a quality and fulfillment of life previously unobtainable. Parenting will always be a viable and respectable lifestyle choice. But those who remain childfree by choice are also entitled to the same respect and consideration. To each their own.
Agree with this.
For me, I sort of flip the question around and ask, why did they have so many children a generation or two ago. I even knew a few families of 10+ growing up. The answer to me, boils down that there was little regard for the woman's welfare. For women in my mom's generation, or my grandmother's generation, you have to wonder if some procedures like hysterectomies, etc., were done sort of at the doctor's discretion as a form of surgical sterilization when women weren't really being given those sorts of choices.
^^^ Very true. Women have been treated like breeding sows for untold millenia. Now people want to revise history and act like these women had a choice. Women were told that it was their duty...like it or not. If they died oh well that was God's will according to most religions.
It's a very rare woman who wants to be pregnant, give birth, and deal with all that entails more than a few times. I think that the current reproductive stats support the truth..even women with money rarely choose to have so many.
Some women love having a lot of kids. I would have. Pregnancy was no big deal for me. I loved cuddling our babies and got a huge kick out of raising them. If money were no problem, we'd have had a dozen.
A couple friends of mine have six kids each and they both express joy and satisfaction with raising a larger family They are both Catholic, however. I am not. I just love kids.
I love the smell of baby breath and the feel of them snuggled in close. I love watching toddlers do their wobble walk. I love the look in their eyes when they catch on to reading or tying their shoes. I love helping them make choices in life. Love cooking big meals. I have done other work both before and after becoming a Mom and nothing has come even close to being this much fun. It has been a joy watching the three of them head out into the world. And when they all come home for holidays and celebrations...life just doesn't get any better.
It's hard work and it is not easy having your heart walk around outside of you, but I wouldn't trade it for all the tea in China or anything I've ever seen or heard of.
Seriously, though, reliable contraception is why. Pretty much everyone I know stopped having kids when they felt their ability to be a good parent was being stretched.
I have two friends who grew up in families of 12 children. One is my age (late 50s) and they rarely had enough food to eat, and she was constantly mocked by the meaner kids for her faded, worn-out hand-me-down clothes.
The other is a neighbor of mine in her late 30s who told me she needed glasses for years when she was a child, but there was no way her parents could afford them, so she had to wait until she was old enough to babysit and save the money for her eye exam and glasses on her own.
That's why a lot of us have fewer children...we want to be able to care for them properly and provide basic necessities without struggling, and thanks to modern birth control, we have that choice.
Oh no? Who do you think is going to pay for Social Security for that single person? Kids who will grow up to be educated will contribute much more (and don't tell me how you are paying into it, so am I, but we're paying for our elders). You should be thankful for the large families raising lots of little taxpayers.
Everyone pays for thier own social secruity. It is the kids fom larger fmailies who will likely end up needing welfare from lack of education. You have no idea how kids will turn out out.
Everyone pays for thier own social secruity. It is the kids fom larger fmailies who will likely end up needing welfare from lack of education. You have no idea how kids will turn out out.
No, you are NOT paying for your own social security. You are paying for mine (I am a senior who is currently receiving social security). The next generation will pay for yours. It's a ponzi scheme.
You do not pay in enough to fund your payments.
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