Exaggerating the joys of parenting

[mountain_hiker]

I'm still very glad I have this LJ community to post things like this article to. I think the moomoos on my Facebook would have a shitfit if they saw me post it there (I get more actual content on LJ, anyway). The article kind of reminds me when someone vehemently denies being an addict or something.

Mom & Dad Kid Themselves Over the Joy of

Comments

[nicked_darling]

"But, times are changing. Since the 1920s, the economic value of having children has been dropping fast. Children can no longer work on farms or bring home paychecks, and they demand more financial support than ever before, the researchers say."

MTE

Years ago, it was actually necessary to have kids for those very reasons, and also because it was expected that the kids would care for the parents in their old age- before nursing homes, obviously- but since times have changed, kids are NOT a necessity.

I think most people have kids now either out of some sense of fucked up obligation or as a weird way to live vicariously through someone else. JMO

[corridor7f]

Much agreed with.

I know a few people who are into their 30's and still living at home and getting financial support. Some contribute to the household, some do not at all and are leeches. No thanks.

[mountain_hiker]

In the 1920's, infant mortality was still high. I can understand the need for having children in 3rd world agricultural societies even today, but the concept of a HUGE family is completely fucking alien to me (i.e., the Duggar family).

I live vicariously through me. ;)

[six_dollar_baby]

i was one of those farm-work kids- a lot of land and cows meant a lot of children. as it stands, i am the only surviving child my parents had, and will inherit that land. i plan to staff it with my piles of cousins and nephews, because i can send them home when the work is finished.

[khh1138]

I'm so glad there is documented research to support what we can see so clearly with our own eyes -- it makes me feel so much less like I'm the only sane person in the room (I get this feeling all the time lately!).

Also, "moomoos" might be my new favourite word.

[planetaryrose]

Water=wet, sky=blue, etc. etc. etc.

[mp34]

Just found this similar item on Yahoo from Healthland.time.com (not linked and I don't have the HTML to cut articles on new posts handy right now):

Kid Crazy: Why We Exaggerate the Joys of Parenthood

Includes quote "after all, it's cheaper to hire end-of-life care than to raise a child. Now comes new research showing that having kids is not only financially foolish but that kids literally make parents delusional".

Why in the hell would anybody want the financial stupidity ..er burden of having kids?? It's financial suicide! Then there's the typical throwaway shit-liner:

"To be sure, all such evidence will never outweigh the desire to procreate, which is one of the most powerfully encoded urges built into our DNA"

I hope all those dozen's of accumulated hours standing very close to the microwave fried those pesky DNA molecules to a crisp! >:D