Children

by d 12 Replies latest social family

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  d

  I used to wonder why does society pressure women who do not want children to have children? I mean some people are content not having children so my thing is why is their so much pressure from peers,family and people in general. to bear children?

  I mean their is more to life than having children like learnng about yourself and the world around you.As a society we need to stop pressuring others to have children when they obviouosly are not fit to do so.Their is this herd like mentality to have children at a certain age and this mentality needs to change.
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  rmt1

  Continuity of legacy and inheritance, typically coming from a patriarchal resource base, which does not yet have on its mind the varieties of legacy and estate that the daughter/neice/standard-bearer might achieve/acquire for herself in a wholly unfreighted state. But in general having greater estate corellates with later and more prepared childbearing. Also one cannot forget in this day of technological marvels and cradle-to-grave medical capabilities that children were once a workforce to be developed as promptly as was medically optimal for the childbearer and a home healthcare system to assist the parent in later years. Also, it is still an unconscious and evolutionary assumption that a woman's highest achievement might be childbearing, and a well-intentioned encouragement to childbearing betrays what in a colder and clinical analysis is really none of anyone's business. It is hardwired and its roots are deep. The best way to combat the pressure is to encourage young women to gain an unstoppable momentum in their field of choice, so that it is they themselves who decide when their own momentum has consumed itself in developing success later in life, and they look around and can check off a bunch of boxes, and say, ok maybe now.
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  zeb

  There is dutch 'reform'church in the city and their kids are conditioned to have kids lots of them. But their gene pool is shrinking. I had a maternity nurse tell me of the number of kids born who are deformed.But the pressure is there to have huge families.

  Apart from this a lot of older people cant stand the thoughts of their young having a life without heavy burden of kids that they had. Or is it that the younger people are having (safe child free)sex for the bonding and enjoyment of it? Sheeesh!jealousy is a curse eh?

  and onya RMT1!
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  d

  I am not against children. I am against those who have children for purposes of self worth and who feel that children are th primary source of living.This is not true for everybody.
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  eyeuse2badub

  It's the 'circle of life'. We had 4 children and even though my wife and I struggled at times, we would not go back and change it even if we could! But we have one son and daughter-in-law that have decided not to have children. That's their choice and we support them. Hard to imagine our life without our children being a major part of it.

  eyeuse2badub
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  d

  Bumped for more views. I am not against children but why is their this mentality in this country that a person's sole purpose is to have children. Myself I never really plan on having children because I see them too burdensome. I have plans to expand my horizons and my potential future career.A child would just weigh me down.
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  Apognophos

  Didn't rmt1 answer the question pretty thoroughly? What is the purpose of life? It's to make more life (to pass on genes, precisely). So most people can't understand why someone would not settle down, or would not have children.
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  LisaRose

  I don't think this is a JW issue, it's a a cultural thing with all people. People assume that because they had children, everyone else must want them as well. I don't think they mean to be offensive, it's usually just interest and concern, but it can be very hurtful, especially if the other person wants children and cannot have them. Even if they are childless by choice it can be quite awkward, so I usually wait for the other person to volunteer that kind of information. I think being childless is a valid choice, and no one should have to explain their reasons for having or not having kids.

  Actually for a while the Society discouraged children, because the end as soooo close. I remember that in 1975 there was a bumper crop of babies, including my first. I figured if Armageddon wasn't coming right away I might as well have a baby. It's funny that I didn't think I would have children in this system of things, and now I have a 19 year old grandson.
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  littlerockguy

  When I was baptized in 1987 at the "Trust In Jehovah" District Convention there was a talk entitled Childbearing (or it may have been Childrearing) at the Time of the End and it had a discouraging tone of having children during that time since the end was so close.

  LRG
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  villagegirl

  I am not against children but I am against the Dutch Reform Church who is responsible

  for Apartheid in South Africa. And the Dutch in general who pillaged all countries they went

  to and abused the locals.