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Is having children selfish?
- Thread starter Departure Song
- Start date
No. There are instances where wanting children would be selfish, but if you have the means to provide for them and a desire to raise them, then I don't see the problem.
I would say that people who "want children for the sake of having children" are pretty despicable (like kids are some sort of hobby or status item to invest in instead of actual people), but I consider that an issue unrelated to population.
I would say that people who "want children for the sake of having children" are pretty despicable (like kids are some sort of hobby or status item to invest in instead of actual people), but I consider that an issue unrelated to population.
- Pronoun
- she/her
I don't think so - it's what we're made to do as a species, after all - reproduce. I do agree with Negrek and Zhorken, that having kids for the sake of having kids is kind of stupid (especially if you're not going to go to the effort of raising kids or don't have enough resources to do so).
I would like to have a child someday. :)
I would like to have a child someday. :)
How does not having children help alleviate problems of overpopulation if you don't live in an area that isn't already overpopulated?
Edit: And, obviously, in the places that are overpopulated? For the most part, they're not the places where people have a high proportion of college-educated or even high-school educated people or an average 2.5 kids per couple. Whether or not you consider that lifestyle to be an appropriate one, it is not to blame for the problems with overpopulation faced in some areas of the world today.
Edit: And, obviously, in the places that are overpopulated? For the most part, they're not the places where people have a high proportion of college-educated or even high-school educated people or an average 2.5 kids per couple. Whether or not you consider that lifestyle to be an appropriate one, it is not to blame for the problems with overpopulation faced in some areas of the world today.
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I don't believe so, as long as the kids are actually raised well and there's not, like, twelve of them. Also, like others said, it is if the people are having kids for the sake of it. It's a huge commitment and a lot of work to do it right. I think a lot of people forget that children are not pets, nor are they furniture to show off to their friends.
But with dedicated raising and in the right amounts, no.
But with dedicated raising and in the right amounts, no.
#1 bro
FEELING GREAT, FEELING GOOD, HOW ARE YOU?
That would be a fine argument, if resources were equally distributed everywhere and everyone had equal access to them. Because they're not, some areas have a larger population than they can accommodate, and some don't. The United States has so many extra resources that they squander an incredible amount of them already. Not having children in this country is not going to magically make there be more food or other resources for people in places where they are scarce. Conversely, having two kids is not going to be ripping food and water out of the mouths of some poor kids in India. Industrialized countries like the United States will not feel the effects of overpopulation unless they become extreme--and given population trends, such a situation will not occur unless the country literally falls apart.
If you actually care about population issues, the answer is not to go campaigning against having children in places where the birthrate is barely above replacement. Go out and help provide education and infrastructure to areas where birthrate and infant mortality are huge. Work to see that resources go to where they're actually needed, instead of just to the people who have the most money and resources already. Not having kids is fine as a personal statement, but it does nothing to actually relieve population pressure if you're doing it in a developed country where no population problem exists. It's true that the earth has a carrying capacity out there somewhere, but industrialized nations are not the ones pushing it, and they're not the ones who are going to suffer the effects of overpopulation. Criticizing people because they want to do something perfectly natural--have a couple of their own biological children--is hardly a righteous position and worse still has no practical benefit. To me, that is the selfish thing.
If you actually care about population issues, the answer is not to go campaigning against having children in places where the birthrate is barely above replacement. Go out and help provide education and infrastructure to areas where birthrate and infant mortality are huge. Work to see that resources go to where they're actually needed, instead of just to the people who have the most money and resources already. Not having kids is fine as a personal statement, but it does nothing to actually relieve population pressure if you're doing it in a developed country where no population problem exists. It's true that the earth has a carrying capacity out there somewhere, but industrialized nations are not the ones pushing it, and they're not the ones who are going to suffer the effects of overpopulation. Criticizing people because they want to do something perfectly natural--have a couple of their own biological children--is hardly a righteous position and worse still has no practical benefit. To me, that is the selfish thing.
Keta
indubitably ineffectual
- Pronoun
- they
I'm surprised no one has mentioned octuplets lady yet; she seems to be the most prominent example of wanting children for the sake of having children. Everyone was raging at her because she went and had 8 more children despite being a single parent of what, six children already? Not to mention her doctor, who implanted so many embryos in her in the first place...
- Pronoun
- she/her
Dannichu
Tragically unbeyachted.
I jest.
I can't understand how serious the "overpopulation problem" is. At least, in Western society - and I'm assuming that by "people" we're talking about Westerners, since it's a little unfair to call people in poverty-stricken countries who have no access to sex education/birth control/safe abortions selfish because they have "too many kids".
I had a quick google of "uk birth rate" and found that pretty much every single link conflicted with everything else.
We have "Birth rate at all-time low" from the BBC, "Ethnic birth rate climbs" from the BBC again, "Midwives struggle as UK birthrate soars" from the Mirror, "UK's falling birth rate a bit rich" from the Edinburgh News and "The UK birthrate has sunk to 1.64 children per woman" says something unsourced on Yahoo.
No, not all of these sources are credible (the Mirror, lol), but it just shows how much confusion and misunderstanding there is concerning issues with the population and its (possible) growth.
As I understand it from my social policy lectures, the UK has a hugely ageing population, and, if not for immigrants, in 50 or so year's time, we'd have nowhere near enough workers to support all the retired people. So a falling birthrate isn't really something that's particularly desirable, and given that the UK's population density is 637 people per square mile compared to just 80 per mile in the States (according to Wiki), I honestly can't see that there's too much to worry about.
Obviously it's not as simple as this; it's a fact that lower class families tend to be (significantly) larger than upper class ones. Working-class families also have significantly smaller generation gaps, with about three generations in the space of two for an average upper-middle-class family. It's also true that people from lower class families tend to go into lower-paid jobs stright from school, while the upper classes tend to get much higher-earning jobs following further education. And people who have higher-earning jobs pay more taxes, and some of the money from there is used to support some of the working-class families who can't earn enough to support themselves. And the circle of life continues.
Thing is, there are so many different factors that make all of the above things happen that it's completely impossible to nail down a single cause of things like cycles of poverty, and simply saying "poor people shouldn't have kids" is not only cruel but demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of the actual issues at hand.
I realise this is more of a collection of vaguely related-to-the-topic points than anything, but, in closing (and a mildly pathetic attempt to draw everything together), I can't say that I believe that overpopulation is even a problem in Western society, and I don't see how everyone suddenly not having kids is going to solve anything - and if it does happen, I can say that with certainty that it will lead to massive economic problems.
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Zhorken
groove out!
- Pronoun
- they or she
He was all "it's sick that people make new kids instead of giving priority to the ones up for adoption" in #tcod so I keep forgetting that he only listed overpopulation here and I keep going to point out "uh, I'm not sure you're interpreting that right".
posting this to a) give extra context b) hopefully actually make myself remember this before I really do post "no what"/"not quite"
posting this to a) give extra context b) hopefully actually make myself remember this before I really do post "no what"/"not quite"
Dewgong
babababa
Octomom is disgusting. She could barely even support the six children she had, she was asking people for money, she's having problems keeping her house; she can't even keep track of the children. She's lost a couple of them, (found them, thank god), and called 911. Then all of sudden she decides to have eight more. :|
I think her doctor is rather stupid for implanting that many embryos, and he shouldn't have done it. I wonder how much money he made, though.
Nothing is really verified unless she said it herself, it's probably a rumour. I've heard so many different things about her that wouldn't make sense together.ultraviolet said:
Yarnchu
Yarn is comfy and easy to wear
Zhorken
groove out!
- Pronoun
- they or she
Not quite; she only wanted to have six at that time.