Is having more than two children unresponsible?

1. 86

   raymondphilippeposted 10 years ago

   Is having more than two children unresponsible?

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2. 84

   gmwilliamsposted 10 years ago

   
   
   Having 1-4 children is not irresponsible at all.  Parents can adequately provide for and give individualized attention to 1-4 children. However; having a large family is not only irresponsible but unthinking and selfish.  Children in large families(6 or more children per household) don't receive the prerequisite parental attention.   They also don't receive the bare material necessities.  Parental resources are scarce to extremely scarce in the large family environment emotionally, financially, and psychologically. 
   
   Parents in large families can hardly provide their children with the basic rudiments of food, clothing, and shelter, let alone anything else.  It is quite common for children from large families to do WITHOUT.   They do not have the things that normal children have from smaller families.  Many children from large families have to work from childhood to purchase the things that normal children take for granted.   Children from large families receive poor nutrition and poor health/medical care because there are no monies for such things.  Many children from large families receive outside assistance either through more well-off relatives or other charities to keep them afloat.  Many depend upon donations and second hand cast offs for clothing.   
   
   Parental involvement in large families range from being perfunctory to being hands off.   Children in large families oftentimes must raise themselves and must learn to either psychologically swim or sink very early in life.  Besides raising themselves, children in large families must often raise each other as their parents are preoccupied with keeping the family in a survival mode if that.  In large families, parental neglect is higher as there are more children than parents can adequately give attention to.  Oldest/older children are cast aside, waylaided, or pressed into service while the youngest/younger children are tended to.   Middle children in large families are lost in the shuffle while the oldest/older children are the REAL PARENTS, raising the younger siblings, having no individual lives of their own.  The large family creates children who are rough, hardscrabbled, and have a harsh attitude towards life.  They develop a scarcity and poverty consciousness as a result of growing up with either nothing or next to nothing.  Parents of large families really do not care about the emotional/psychological/financial wellbeing of their children; they feel that such is not important; to them.  Children from large families are susceptible to pathologies such as juvenile delinquency and low academic achievement as a result of low to no parental involvement.

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   1. 86

      raymondphilippeposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for your insightful comments. Certainly some things I hadn't thought of.

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   2. 84

      gmwilliamsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you for choosing my answer.  Large families were for more agragian times & when people did not know any better.  In the modern era, there is NO excuse whatsoever to have large families.  In fact, large families are totally UNNECESSARY!

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      little-red85posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I really think you need to clarify that you are referring to large families in poverty, because all the large families (10+ kids) that I've spent quality time around are none of the things you describe.

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3. 81

   dailytop10posted 10 years ago

   I think not. You can have as many children as you want if you have both the time and money to raise them all well.  I'm aware about the issue regarding overpopulation, but who knows your next child might be the one who can develop a cure against cancer, discover new technologies, or become an athlete competitive enough to crush all-time records.

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   1. 84

      gmwilliamsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      The MAIN issue is providing a high qualitative life for each child.The larrger the family,the lower quality of life that each child will experience.  In large families finances are stretched to the limit w/very little or no moneys for necessities.

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   2. 86

      raymondphilippeposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

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4. 61

   teamrnposted 10 years ago

   Irresponsible-no. That said,, the parents need to realize that their commitment to their children didn't end with the fun of making them. Will they have the emotional resources to give the children the attention they serve, will they be able to help 5 kies with their homework. Will they be able to pay 5 college educations if college is what the kids want?
   
   The world today is not just about wants (wanting more children). It is also about being able to provide the love and support they need.
   
   I'd say that the parents need to look down the road and really thing about whether or not they can provide for what those children will need and how they are going to raise them

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   1. 84

      gmwilliamsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Having children consists more of the physical act, it involves emotional and psychological time in addition to allocation of finances.   The more children one has, the more diluted parental resources are emotionally, psychologically,& financially

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   2. 61

      teamrnposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I didn't speak of financial resources only. In fact, my first statement was, Will they have the emotional resources to give the children the attention they need and deserve. The financial commitment is important, but a secondary one in my mind.

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   3. 86

      raymondphilippeposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      You are right. Having children implies a very long emotional and financial commitment.

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   4. 84

      gmwilliamsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      It's IMPOSSIBLE for parents to have the wherewithal emotionally, financially, & psychologically to properly raise a large family. Oldest children are pressed to RAISE younger siblings. It's normal for large family household to go WITHOUT.

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5. 86

   raymondphilippeposted 10 years ago

   Thanks for all your answers. From a personal point of view many might argue that having more than two children isn't unresponsible.
   However as of last year, humans are using more resources than the Earth can replenish and the planet's distribution of resources among its  inhabitants is massively unequal.
   That seems to me to be an argument to show some restraint in populating the world.

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