I have decided (and when I decide things, they have a tendency to become economically true, not by the fact I've "decreed" them, but that I've already realized the economic reality of the situation and merely point it out) that children are now officially priced out of the market. Much like labor unions priced US cars out of existence (only to be bailed out), laws, government and just sociological factors have made it too risky a proposition to have children.
I've gone into detail before why I don't have children, but I shall summarize it shortly;
1. Financial costs. Sorry, $250,000 on the low end of estimates is just too much money.
2. Legal risks. I have a kid, I now I have a liability in a litigious society. Doesn't matter if the kid is good or not, if he bumps into somebody's car, hits a cat, or just decides to claim his father "emotionally abused him," forget it. I'm not going to jail or forking out the money.
3. Emotional. Guarantee you'll love that little varmint when you have him/her. It will hurt only that much more when there's a 50% chance s/he will be taken away in a divorce initiated by your spouse who said something or other about "till death do us part" a couple years ago. Ergo, they aren't just a legal and financial liability, they're an emotional liability.
4. Ease of life. The people next to my hotel room have 4 kids. Good lord am I thankful I just have an X-Box as my sole dependent.
5. Government interference makes it impossible to bring up a child effectively, namely by making traditional fatherly means of punishment (spanking and a good Bill Cosby beating) illegal. This guarantees the child will never grow up to be an adult and will have problems well past the teen years.
Regardless, this article prompted the revisitation of the children issue.
3 comments:
I figure we're only a generation behind Europe.
Invest in Ikea. It'll be the only reasonably priced furniture after VAT taxes.
I’ve learned there is no answer that satisfies the people who ask why I don’t want children. This post and the 2009 post are excellent, yet I’ve had this discussion sooooo many freaking times that I know the words just don’t make any sense to them.
Of course, in the next breath, they tell me how envious they are of my husband and me and our chosen lifestyle. To which there is also no satisfactory response to. They just cannot seem to make the connection!
Elizabeth,
Direct these people to antinatalism.net.
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