Number of children?

Question

Am I the only one who understands the mathematical logic of not having a herd of children, such as 4 or more? If a couple has four children, and each of those children has four children and so on, we are dooming ourselves to run out of space and resources. I am currently in an arguement with someone through messages over this, and I know I'm going to get flamed by parents with numerous kids, but all I'm looking for is a glimmer of hope from other people that understand what I'm talking about. Those folks that get artificially inseminated and are then surprised when they end up with 8 fertile eggs ready to become children disgust me. Moreso when they decide to keep all those eggs, because they ARE eggs and not children. Discarding an egg is no more evil than throwing away a fingernail. I'm sorry, I'm starting to rant. All I want is someone to sympathize with me and tell me they understand.

Additionally, I understood the logic of it when we lived in the Dark Ages and children rarely lived past puberty. This is the here and now with all of our vast medical technology.

And additional to that, are these litters of children getting the individual attention they need?

Answer 1

If you want an answer from the "other side" here it is. I am pregnant with my second, and the most I think I would have is 3 because that is just perfect for my husband and I, as well as each child can receive adequate time with us. I love the thought of having a large family, but thats not for us, we have financial responsibilities, and (the real reason) I hate being pregnant and childbirth scares me to the core. I think that its only outweighed for my desire for a family.
The problem with overpopulation is not the amount of children, its with the fact that people live longer and healthier lives. Modern medicine has eliminated (herd thinning) diseases, cures for others, treatments for others. The life span now last I checked is into the 80s and that was very rare not too long ago. Try to understand that if you are really concerned about overpopulation, check the stats, people do not have as many children as they used to, no matter what the advances in fertility. Infertility is actually on the rise, as is childless or childfree people or sterility by choice. Offspring is not at the core, its the elderly! Okay but we don't tell them that, so why the blast on children. What about the mothers who struggle with infertility and have multiples. Do you think that she should feel at all "snubbed" by some stuck up people who find her choice disgusting? It's not the perfect scenerio, but it was her option to take and she knew the risks and took it. I find it more disgusting women who ask to abort some of the embryos!
I, like most people, don't really understand all the mechanics of embryotic research, so I don't know how I feel about discarding a fertilized egg. If its going to help cure a disease or something, I can understand, I just don't like the idea of manufacturing human life or manipulating it to do it harm and not giving it life like infertility treatments.
All I'm saying is if you want people to take the question seriously, you must put yourself into their shoes. I love being a mother, I love my children, and am a responsible and reliable mommy so try to understand families of 4 or more. That is a wonderful thing that not many people are willing to do in this day in age. Don't turn up your nose at those people, understand that its something you couldn't do, so have a respect for those who can.

Answer 2

Being an infertile woman myself, I take no issue with multiple births that come with fertility treatments. If you actually look at the statistics most people end up with a single child, twins at the most. The only ones that get exposure are the ones who have larger numbers.

When someone has tried years to get pregnant, has seen countless doctors, has been poked, prodded, operated on and has seen their sex life come down to a schedule instead of being the natural blessed event that is it meant to be, then they deserve the shot to have children. Many with large multiples do not choose selective reduction because of the chances of losing all babies. When you have spent so much money and tried so hard for so many years you will not risk losing what took so long to have. I went this path and it did not work so I am childless and therefore I'm sure you are happy I am not contributing to the world population.

You want people to sympathize with you, but perhaps you should try having some empathy for others.

Answer 3

Woohoo! good for you!

I have one child. I have carried a little guilt about that when I think about the carrying capacity of our dear Mother Earth and the state of society and culture right now. I often wonder, what will the world be like for her when I am long gone?

I posted an answer earlier today suggesting that perhaps people have children for very selfish reasons, few, if any, of which pertain to the personhood of those children. So many people I see have a child because they want one in order to fulfill some unmet love needs and/or they ended up pregnant but don't believe in (or can't afford) abortion. In these cases, often children are considered nuisances, total burdens and drags on what these women wanted to do with their lives. Even for wealthy families who "plan" their children, they're like accessories, fodder for cocktail party brag sessions during which the kids are with nannies or babysitters. I know I've presented two extremes, and most families probably fit somewhere in between, but I'm still so frustrated with how children are dealt with in our society. I appreciate so much what I've read about Aboriginal societies, in which the very old and the very young are regarded with such high esteem

I don't know. I've read that the birthrate among whites has been declining, even with all the in vitro "miracle" multiples, but other populations continue to have high birthrates.

I don't know what the answer is, but it seems intuitively correct, considering what urban sprawl is doing to the landscape and what high traffic is doing to our green spaces, at least in the U.S. There are too many of us.

Sorry to be all dooms-day-ish, but if we don't wise up, and fast, we'll annihilate ourselves. I really don't know if that would be such a terrible thing. At least the resilient Earth could, and would eventually, return to balance. We like to think we're so necessary and special, but human beings really don't contribute much to this planet.

Answer 4

Currently in North America, and pretty much every western country, the birth rate is below the replacement rate of 2.1 children/woman.

Without immigration our economy would collapse as there would not be enough people paying taxes to support "dependents" like children and the elderly.

While you feel the eggs are eggs, they feel the eggs are children and are acting according to their values. Them ore power to them. Hopefully those "eggs" will be taxpayers when I am in a nursing home.

Answer 5

u are not alone.WOW! I totally sympathize with you. Check out my question. it has to do with me not having any children. in my question, i said that i had personal reasons of why i might not want any children. well, you hit my biggest reason: the environment, resources and space no earth. i really care about the earth. thats why i might not have any children later on. And, yes when i see those situations about fertile eggs, i agree with you completely. they are just eggs! But the sad thing is that you are never going to make ignorant people understand.

Answer 6

Nope. Most people in industrialized nations understand quite well. Even in America, our population would be decreasing if it weren't for recent immigrants, who tend to have more than a replacement number of children.