Posted on 01/03/2005 8:31:56 AM PST by qam1
Which is unnecessary given that fish can easily be farmed.
More people means more pollution - live in any large city to witness this.
Go to an American city, then visit a third world city.
And I don't want to live on a planet that is wall to wall people
Remember that third world city you just visited? The one with horrendous air pollution and a river that is little more than a sewer? Compare that to any American city.
Those are your choices. You can choose not to reproduce children that will care about pollution and freedom. The rest of the world won't stop producing children that won't care about those things.
The future is wall-to-wall people. The question is, will they care to clean up pollution and give you religious freedom, or will they run raw sewage into the river and make you live under sharia law?
It's not really a concern, either way. As of 1999, the American fertility rate was 2.08 children per women, which is just a whisker below replacement levels.
There are indications that the American fertility rate is in the process of increasing slightly.
So, we're basically at replacement levels, maybe a bit under. We can certainly make up the shortfall, if any, with smart immigration. Currently, our high immigration rates mean that the American population is growing at above replacement levels. So, we could cut immigration substantially and still be at replacement level.
Other than paying for welfare programs, there is no reason to expand the American population.
Well, that's what happens when the parents don't provide consequences for bad behavior. On the other hand, certain things are just kids being kids (i.e. overturning drinks). The trick is to differentiate between truly unacceptable behavior and simple kid stuff. Parents should also know what venues are and are not appropriate for their children.
That being said, I cannot stand people who like to cluck their tongues and roll their eyes when I am discplining my child who may be acting up. I've had plenty of dirty looks from people who were watching as I removed my child from a store or restaurant because they wouldn't behave appropriately. Actually, one lady tried to tell me I was being mean because I wasn't allowing him to throw a tantrum in public. How weird.
If you don't have kids, or if the children in question are not yours, please don't criticize what a parent does to correct the behavior. (Unless we're talking outright abuse or neglect, which is defintely an exception. )
Two things that will never happen:
1) Birth rates will not be at replacement levels.
2) Our politics will never allow sensible or even sane immigration policies.
True, but irrelevant. The primary purpose of marriage is procreation and the raising of children. If either party is completely closed to procreation, the marriage is invalid-- similarly if both partners are closed to procreation.
It's not just a Catholic thing. We know through reason alone that procreation (and mutual care) is essential to marriage.
You have someone with you? Who's "we"?
I'm making a more general statement- it's better to hold off on having more children than to have a child when you are not financially able to provide for that child.
And, to a large extent, bringing a child into today's American society with no hope of having that child go to college is essentially consigning that child to a lifetime of poverty.
Some people shouldn't have children...selfish people make terrible parents.. just look at liberals..
I'd wait until you were done and then come up and thank you.
It could be worse... when one lady refused to discipline her daughter (a 6 year old) who was climbing up her, pulling her by the collar, and saying, "You WILL buy me that toy" my husband walked by saying, "You need to beat your kids more." Most women don't appreciate it when I tell them that story.
I know of a number of couples my age (mid-20s) who have no intention of having kids. Whatever floats their boat. Some people do it for selfish reasons, others just aren't "kid" people. I can respect that - better to not have children then to be pressured into having them and later resenting the poor kids.
We're planning to wait until at least our 2nd wedding anniversary to start our family. I need to finish my masters, we need to pay off my student loans and buy a home, and we need for him to be settled in his career. I realize in the eyes of many, waiting a while to have kids makes us selfish.
Oh, and I'm going to be a working mother, too. But I've been told repeatedly here that no good conservative woman should be anything but a homeschooling stay-at-home mom.
As a child of a 2-income couple, I never felt unloved or neglected simply because my mom and dad both worked full time. My parents still made it to our sporting events and band concerts, and my brother and I were very much loved. I genuinely don't get why the working mother is demonized by some conservatives.
My mouth would have been hanging open in shock. LOL. That certainly is an attention getter.
Not really. China and India are experiencing plunging fertility rates, with the rest of Asia experiencing the same, to a lesser extent. In a couple of decades, they will probably drop below replacement level. Africa is going to lose population due to AIDS and dropping fertility rates.
The word population will grow for the next few decades, level off and then start to decrease mid-century. There are few places that you're seeing an increase in fertility rates lately (with the notable, and surprising, exception of Russia).
I usually give dirty looks to parents who don't discipline their kids ;)
You won't ever catch me griping about the time I spend with my children. I love every minute of driving them to their various extracurricular practices and watching them develop their talents and skills. Not only that, I've gotten involved with their sports and musical events from an administrative angle which has helped me expand my own talents and skills, and even literally paid off when I got hired as the school musical director ;-).
We're almost there now. The US rate is 2.08 children per woman, while the theoretical replacement rate is 2.1.
2) Our politics will never allow sensible or even sane immigration policies.
Maybe not in the current political culture. I think this is a case of "it's going to have to get worse before it gets better."
Me, too. They make the rest of us look bad, LOL. Plus our kids. :(
It will probably be quite some time before I find someone and then have kids with them. But that won't stop me from writing a book about childcare! The title is "Hey, stop that! Now!" and it's the perfect parenting guide for people who could really care less about their kids, just as long as the kids aren't messing up the house.
There's a lot more to this story. I would consider this family a "success" in many ways. No, the kids would be the first to tell you that the meals were often lean, but the love was in abundance, and, by and large, they all turned out to be good people contributing to society.
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