Children: Why are people having 4+??

I'm not married and I don't have children, but my boyfriend and I live in a very populated city where people feel the need to have 5, 6, 7+ kids. These families don't appear to have the means to fiscally be able to meet their children's needs. We are wondering WHY?! Why do people feel the need to procreate beyond 2 or 3 children? I can understand 2 for sure and even 3, 4 seems a little crazy to me, but any more - that's insane and seems so unnecessary!
Anyone who has reasons for having 4+ kids, please let me know why! And if anyone else has some opinions, I'd love to hear them!

If you don't like it then pick up your **** and move. I like how you judge people by their children. I can see why you don't have kids. It's because you can't keep your mouth shut long enough to get laid. Nuff said

You don't look young enough to be saying "Nuff said". And I think you're mean and wrong.

That is so sad. :sad: Your opinion means so much to me. :laugh:

It is everyone's business when we're very seriously facing over-population and diminishing natural resources. Further, if these parents don't have the finances and mental capacity to raise their handfuls of children properly, the burden falls to the tax payers.

Ignorance should mind it's own business.

So a woman's right to choose only goes one way? Ok, that's cool. I have enough kids for both of us anyway. Added bonus: I get to raise them all however I like. :flowerforyou:

Listen lady, no one's telling you you can't have kids. Literally NO ONE has said that. Just that maybe you should think about the impact it has before you do so. No one is advocating forced abortion or sterilization, although after some responses in this thread I find myself leaning more towards that than I ever thought I would.

Also, yes. You do get to raise them however you want. That's how the mormons intend on taking over the world. So it's kinda looking like that right to choose may become one way in the near future.

I wasn't talking about forced abortion or sterilization. I'm not worried about that. But ask any parent of more than 2 children what the social consequences are. Look at the judgment on here about how large families must be working the system. Try to book a vacation for 7 people. Try to buy a house with more than 3 bedrooms. Try to go out to dinner without people asking you if you have a daycare. Or if you know how kids are made. Or if you own a tv. *sigh* I'm simply pointing out a different perspective. If you are a tolerant person, you can surely appreciate that.

But thanks for calling me a lady. Beats the heck out of sweetie and honeybuns--both of which I have heard today.

ETA: the quote my response was directed to.

I don't want to get TOO personal, but there's many many sides to this coin that I'd like anyone who has strong feelings on this subject either way to take into consideration. My situation is one of them...

I'm 25yo and have three kids by three men, never married. I had a very rough life up until a few years ago when I finally gave my life to God, and was a runaway/working girl for most of my adolescence. Being judged for being a single mom with 3 kids by 3 men is something I have to deal with a LOT, unfortunately. In the past it would have really hurt and angered me to be looked down upon, but these days I can hold my head up high and say "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."

I have been blessed enough to have been given the opportunity to totally turn my life around, I am a college graduate, full-time employee, and have three amazing kids. But it's common for people to make assumptions about me by saying things like "you should get your GED." Because I have tattoos I was even let go of a job once because a couple of the customers had asked the owner if I worshiped Satan and he thought he might be losing money by keeping me (I found out the truth much later though. I thought he just couldn't afford to pay me). The irony being that I was a Christian, like they probably felt they were, in asking such a disgusting question.

Anyway what I'm getting at is...you never know anyone's story. What doesn't make sense to you could be caused by a multitude of reasons. Yeah, some people are just flat out trashy and have a bunch of kids they can't afford and expect the government to foot the bill. But please don't assume. Sometimes a kind ear and a welcoming smile is the best thing that happens to a single mother, juggling children she has for any number of reasons, trying to make ends meet, trying to get their head above water, every obstacle life could throw in the way beating her down on a daily basis.

Whenever I meet someone who will become my husband, most likely he will have kids of his own as well. And with my three already, we'll be quite the Brady Bunch. I would hope that the number of children in the home, my (and probably my future husband's) many tattoos, or anything else would not be anyone's sole reason for looking down on us. Not that I think anyone's being a big mean judgy person here---just that my first thought after reading the question was the hate mongering people who would just sit there and think "because they're stupid" or "because they're wh***s that can't keep their legs closed" or any other cynical hatefulness. The answer to this question is: It doesn't matter.

and there is not a single natural resource that is not renewable.

Ozone...?!

It is everyone's business when we're very seriously facing over-population and diminishing natural resources. Further, if these parents don't have the finances and mental capacity to raise their handfuls of children properly, the burden falls to the tax payers.

Ignorance should mind it's own business.

So a woman's right to choose only goes one way? Ok, that's cool. I have enough kids for both of us anyway. Added bonus: I get to raise them all however I like. :flowerforyou:

I wasn't talking about forced abortion or sterilization. I'm not worried about that. But ask any parent of more than 2 children what the social consequences are. Look at the judgment on here about how large families must be working the system. Try to book a vacation for 7 people. Try to buy a house with more than 3 bedrooms. Try to go out to dinner without people asking you if you have a daycare. Or if you know how kids are made. Or if you own a tv. *sigh* I'm simply pointing out a different perspective. If you are a tolerant person, you can surely appreciate that.

But thanks for calling me a lady. Beats the heck out of sweetie and honeybuns--both of which I have heard today.

ETA: the quote my response was directed to.

I get that. I really do. I honestly think it's that people love policing women's bodies. Ask women that have no children how they are treated by society and you'll find that people ask them rude questions and question their decisions too.

I personally see having that many children as irresponsible on many levels, but I don't doubt that it can be a burden. Although if I'm being honest, you could say the same thing about teen pregnancy.

LOL at some sort of overpopulation problem seriously people most countries world wide are on a birth rate decline. The old out number the young. This is going to be the true problem in the very near future for the more developed countries. Watch what happens when you no longer have a young workforce supporting the retirees.

This is my theory why the US enjoyed such prosperity during the 80's and 90's the baby boomers were in the prime of their careers. An economic down turn in 2009 seems to have occurred about the same time a large majority of baby boomers exited the work force for early retirement.

:noway:

Sorry, but she's right. This is why the Social Security system will be running into trouble. There are many more Baby Boomers than there are "GenX" and GenY" to pay for it all. Birth rates *are* on the decline.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/13/why-are-birthrates-falling-around-the-world-in-a-word-television/

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100752786

http://usgovinfo.about.com/cs/censusstatistic/a/aabirthrate.htm

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/07/03/birth-rates-hit-record-low-for-those-under-25-still-on-the-rise-for-those-40/

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jun/28/birthrate-continues-decline-us/

http://ideas.time.com/2013/08/01/the-declining-birthrate-doesnt-spell-disaster/

But it's common for people to make assumptions about me by saying things like "you should get your GED."

That part is pretty awful. Why would someone assume you're not well-educated just because you have many tattoos? Moreover, why assume that someone's a bad person just because they're not well-educated?

And if you have 3 kids and marry someone with 3 kids, odds are pretty good that you've caught your limit and will stop making more people. It's reasonable to pool your resources and raise your families.

What isn't reasonable is thinking that there is an infinite supply of resources (if wilderness could sustain large numbers of people, you'd see large numbers of people there and it wouldn't be wilderness) and that there isn't a carrying capacity for humans just like there is for yeast and deer and wolves. Some people (not you) seem hell-bent on getting us there within a generation.

9-12 children was the norm for most of human history because most of them didn't survive to adulthood to reproduce themselves. We are no longer in that situation for most of the world. And for the developed nations with low birth rates, there will always be people willing to migrate to those countries for a better standard of living. I don't think we're in danger of becoming a country of ghost towns.

and there is not a single natural resource that is not renewable.

Ozone...?!

Rigger

edit for being off topic

Sorry, but she's right. This is why the Social Security system will be running into trouble. There are many more Baby Boomers than there are "GenX" and GenY" to pay for it all. Birth rates *are* on the decline.

:noway: But... it's a pyramid scheme destined to fail. We can't breed our way out of the problem, unless you want to end up eating Soylent Green.

Why do you care? Eyes on your own uterus, dude.

for the juxtaposition of the words "uterus" and "dude". :glasses: