Are children a right?

Options
1246

Replies

  • rbryntes
    rbryntes Posts: 710 Member
    Options
    I don't think it's anybody's business what I do with my body. Whether it's to choose to have children, or to choose to not have children.
  • MFPAddict
    MFPAddict Posts: 2,303 Member
    Options
    I doubt I would ever need government assistance if I lost my job because I have savings (specifically for the unlikely event that I lose my job). I also have family and friends who would help me out. That's the way it used to be in this country. Reaching into the pockets of taxpayers was the last resort, not the first one.

    That is exactly how I was brought up.
  • mom24princesses
    mom24princesses Posts: 12
    Options
    I think it is irresponsible and extremely unfair to the children when parents decide they want a child they know they cannot afford. I say this as a married 25 year old stay at home mother of four little ones ages 7 and under. My husband and I can afford our children though. We do not go pay check to pay check. We also do not use government assistance. We have in the past for a short time when we had our first child at 18 years old. We scrambled to make ends meet that first year or two while we put ourselves together and started making money and then dropped the assistance. It was afterwords when we were self sufficient we choose to have three more little ones. We also have decided we are finished having children because we can live comfortably with the four we have. Would I like more? Sure. I would love to have one or two more. We could probably afford it too if we tighten our belts and go pay check to pay check. However, we don't think that's fair to the children we have now. We have a five bedroom house and if we had more we would have to start stacking them on top of each other. We have plenty of groceries and never go without BUT if we had more that stockpile would diminish along with their quality of life. .. since we would struggle. It's about being responsible and not selfish.
  • kapeluza
    kapeluza Posts: 3,434 Member
    Options
    Do you think people should be able to have as many children as they want regardless of if they can afford them or not? This is hypothetical so I am not talking about situations where people had their children when they could afford them and then lost their jobs. I mean a situation where you want to have a child or children that you know you can't afford and you will need assistance. To me a lot of people feel it's their right to have children whether they can take care of them or not. Thoughts? lets keep this a civil debate, all opinions welcome.

    If they can support them financially and morally then sure have as many as you want. But if you are on welfare/don't care about parenting your children/ are a complete mess then no you shouldn't have the right to keep breeding and popping them out like they are free popsicle!!!
  • ladybg81
    ladybg81 Posts: 1,553 Member
    Options
    If you can't feed...don't breed.
  • odusgolp
    odusgolp Posts: 10,477 Member
    Options
    Rights, Ethics, and Morals are not interchangeable... just sayin.
  • smc1277
    smc1277 Posts: 239 Member
    Options
    If you can't feed...don't breed.

    Agreed.....I am so sick of people who have children just to stay on welfare, then refuse to take care of their children with the money they receive.
  • madyncaden
    madyncaden Posts: 312 Member
    Options
    it is definantly a right to have as many children as you want, but it is not your right to then have others support you in that journey. I think that if there was not so much money, food and health care given to others from my packets from uncle sam people would not continue to have kids and expect others to support them! i am so sick of people sitting around popping out kids and living off my tax dollars, while my husband and i work our butts off, pay taxes, own a home and feed and cloth our kids with just making ends meet. no one wants to help me pay off college loans by i know someone who has been given a free education for 4 different degrees that has never finished since she and her husband were at poverty level with three kids. to this day she does not have a degree in anything but taking what everyone will give her and doing nothing for herself or doing anything to financially support her family. it disgusts me!!
  • MFPAddict
    MFPAddict Posts: 2,303 Member
    Options
    To help make ends meet, my mother took a job at a convenience store working both the lottery machine and cash register. On a daily basis, she would encounter people dropping $20, $40, $50+ on the lottery then using their food stamps to buy a candy bar, chips, soda, etc.
  • Iamfit4life
    Iamfit4life Posts: 3,095 Member
    Options
    No I absolutely do not think they have that right.

    But I also don't think I have the right to say who can and can't have children, or how many.

    So I'm stuck as far as this one goes.
    This
  • killerqueen17
    killerqueen17 Posts: 536 Member
    Options
    Okay, here's food for thought-- what about generational poverty/cyclical poverty?
    The cycle of poverty has been defined as a phenomenon where poor families become trapped in poverty for at least three generations. These families have either limited or no resources. There are many disadvantages that collectively work in a circular process making it virtually impossible for individuals to break the cycle. Examples of these disadvantages working in a circular process would be: economic decline, low personal income, no funds for school, which leads to lack of education. The lack of education results in unemployment and lastly low national productivity.
    -‘‘Social Inequality: Patterns and Processes.’’ McGraw Hill publishing. 4th edition

    So, yes, we have established that some people make no efforts to get out of poverty and off govt assistance-- but I'm not talking about these people right now. But, sometimes there are a lot of factors making this process VERY difficult.. For someone who is TRYING to make it, someone who does not want to have to rely on assistance, and yet it still is not working out--- what do you think about a person like this having kids?

    No attacks please... but rationally, what do you think? I'm curious. :)
  • killerqueen17
    killerqueen17 Posts: 536 Member
    Options
    (double post)
  • madyncaden
    madyncaden Posts: 312 Member
    Options
    I don't think it's anybody's business what I do with my body. Whether it's to choose to have children, or to choose to not have children.

    you are absolutely correct.........just dont ask me to work my butt off, do the right thing by my family and then have to have my tax dollars support you and yours!!!
  • juliecat1
    juliecat1 Posts: 3,455 Member
    Options
    I absolutely do not think having children is a right. It is a privilege, one that comes with many responsibilities too few take into account.

    Agreed!

    Now, I was no where NEAR ready to have a kid when I did. (21) She changed my life and straightened me out real quick like. Im glad I didnt have to prove myself to have her or Im not sure where Id be now.
  • sarah_ep
    sarah_ep Posts: 580 Member
    Options
    I doubt I would ever need government assistance if I lost my job because I have savings (specifically for the unlikely event that I lose my job). I also have family and friends who would help me out. That's the way it used to be in this country. Reaching into the pockets of taxpayers was the last resort, not the first one.

    That is exactly how I was brought up.

    I agree. But I find that friends and family, community, and the general population are less likely to help someone in need nowadays. We are too focused on ourselves, besides "it's not our problem".
  • MFPAddict
    MFPAddict Posts: 2,303 Member
    Options
    Of course if the government were to shut off the money faucet to those WHO ABUSE the system, crime would just go up. Those who knowingly abuse the system have no intention of ever working to support theirselves or their family. If it is not given to them, they will take it. Some already do both.
  • MFPAddict
    MFPAddict Posts: 2,303 Member
    Options
    I doubt I would ever need government assistance if I lost my job because I have savings (specifically for the unlikely event that I lose my job). I also have family and friends who would help me out. That's the way it used to be in this country. Reaching into the pockets of taxpayers was the last resort, not the first one.

    That is exactly how I was brought up.

    I agree. But I find that friends and family, community, and the general population are less likely to help someone in need nowadays. We are too focused on ourselves, besides "it's not our problem".

    I completely agree there has been a shift, which is unfortunate.
  • Tiff_09
    Tiff_09 Posts: 5,627 Member
    Options
    I have one word: Octo-Mom...and now look at her...the children are the ones who end up suffering.

    But what really grinds my gears is this...I am a single mom with 2 kids and because I have a job, I make TOO much money to get any kind of assistance; but I don't make enough to survive...I have to rely on my tax refund as a cushion every year...and that is WITH a pretty tight budget. Yet, if I quit my job & lived off the gov't, I'd have funds up the yin-yang!

    We are in the same boat. It really gets me too. I know people living on public aid.. 4 kids, 2 different fathers.. child support from both fathers... 1 child is only there part of the time, the other lives under another roof. They have internet at home (i don't), they have smart phones, some even have govmt funded cell phones, and I heard the mother (who doesn't work at all) talk about tanning to name a few things...

    Life isn't fair.. that's all I know. No one said it would be... that's the part that stinks.
  • voluptas63
    voluptas63 Posts: 602 Member
    Options
    Are children a right? ...no.

    But just like that size M black leggings on your XXL butt, just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
  • mommared53
    mommared53 Posts: 9,543 Member
    Options
    I absolutely do not think having children is a right. It is a privilege, one that comes with many responsibilities too few take into account.

    Agreed!

    Now, I was no where NEAR ready to have a kid when I did. (21) She changed my life and straightened me out real quick like. Im glad I didnt have to prove myself to have her or Im not sure where Id be now.

    I agree with you. I was 20 and single when I had my daughter and I believe she (in a sense) saved me from a self-destructive life. There were certain things that I would not do because I had her that, who knows, I very likely may have done if it had just been me to take care of and support.

Categories