I recently saw this in a National Geographic Magazine... I failed to note which country it was referring to, although I want to say it was Bangladesh.
"Long-term lessons: Kids flock year-round to a floating school, traditionally homebound, girls especially benefit by having schools come to them. Studies show that educated girls (and boys as well) have fewer children as adults."
I thought it was interesting that the ONE listed benefit of getting an education was that you have less children...
I can think of a thousand other benefits of education, but this is the one they chose... Reminds me of all the people I met in LA who would find a way to tell me NOT to have so many kids after they see my 4 kids. But for me there is NO GREATER JOY than my kids. And honestly not a day goes by when I look at my 4 kids and don't think, "That's all I have? Just 4?" Maybe it's because they are usually so loud that when there is actually a quiet moment I wonder where they all went;) Haha!
In all seriousness many people today feel that we would all be better off with less kids and some no kids at all. In many places like Europe and China people are only having one or two per couple. In a few generations only-children will be marrying only-children and then when their parents pass away they will left with the stark reality of having no siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins. That's a weird reality for me who has such a big extended family and loves to get together with family.
Maybe in countries like the one in the article having too many kids and not having enough food or medicine is a problem. Makes me want to share more with poorer countries. Maybe this is a call to action for me. But I don't believe that for the society that I live in, and yet, like I said, I hear the arguments for not having kids all the time. And everyone has their reasons... usually it is political or financial though.
I really don't give much attention to the political reasons and to the financial reasons I just remind myself that "afford" is a relative term. We live in a society that glorifies consumerism and it is easy to get caught up in it. And with more kids I might not be able to go shopping all the time or eat fancy food or put my kids in private school or live in an upscale neighborhood in a model home but I guess I don't think that is what life is all about. When I leave this life the only thing I get to take with me is my family (eventually), my memories and lessons learned... most of which will have come from my family. So I am willing to sacrifice what would be extra spending money for me to providing the necessities for my kids.
It does take a lot more effort to raise a large family on a limited income but you can do it... There are lots of great resources out there for how to raise a family on a budget. One blog that I recently started following is Money Saving Mom. She talks about cutting grocery bills, getting through higher education without debt and so much more. You should check her out! Love her! Lots of great tips for sure!
There is so much good to be done in the world, the more the merrier to help out, right;)
This is how I save on grocery bills...
I can only buy what fits in the cart after the kids are loaded up!!!! hahaha!
Having kids like they're at wholesale prices;) Love my kids!!!
Not saying that Costco is the best place for food though... some things yes... but not the point;)
2 comments:
Please enjoy your 4 children... they seem lovely. The scientific truth which can't be ignored is that the exponential growth of population is more than the planet's resources can accommodate.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/population-growth-taxing-planets-resources/2011/10/16/gIQAD9bMAM_story.html
People are living longer and with additional births our planet is quite simply overtaxed. This is something that everyone should take into consideration. Without a healthy planet there will be no choice either way.
See that's just it... all children are lovely:)
The article is good and actually makes some really great points. While some argue that just simply having less kids will help the problems our world faces dramatically, I say, we are smarter than this and can make changes in our lives to better the problems and hopefully become resourceful enough to find solutions that don't necessarily have to do with having less kids. Besides, most people I know are having less kids, mostly on the side of cost of living... for many, because they don't want to sacrifice their lifestyle of consumerism. Aren't we all consumers though...
Here are the quotes that stood out to me. I am sure this article will speak differently to someone who is bent on encouraging everyone to simply have less. (My responses below are in parenthesis just to distinguish them easily from the quotes from the article.)
“These fish are an important source of food, and the basis of the ecosystem,” said Peruvian conservation biologist Patricia Majluf. “It’s part of the global syndrome of misuse of resources.”
(Ask yourself, How do we misuse our resources? How can we better, more efficiently use them?)
These extractive activities are not just a simple function of adding people to the planet: They are driven as well by the rising economic aspirations and lifestyle choices humans are making around the globe.
“It’s only going to be achieved if we find a way to decouple natural resources from improvements in lifestyle,” Bapna said.
(Life style choices are huge! Do we need to live in such big homes, drive as much as we do, buy as many things as we do, eat all the crap that we do?)
“People can’t talk about the environment without talking about population,” he said. “Many of the environmental issues you talk about, whether it’s climate change or something else with the environment, people are in the center of it.”
(In my opinion, people are at the center of the solution of it as well.)
In the end, according to National Geographic fellow Barton Seaver, the world’s growing population will have to learn how to live better within its means.
(The current economic crisis is largely based on people living beyond their means... It is no wonder that the world is also suffering from this. It would take total reform, but if people applied the principle of living with their means and "needing" less then maybe we could reverse much of what is happening, Of course, there may be some problems that are now irreversible. It's kind of sad, but not hopeless.)
“We’re not going to find more fish; we’re not going to plow more rain forest to create more calories,” Seaver said. “I would rather have my anchoveta in all its briny, delicious, shiny glory than through a pork chop on my plate.”
(Honestly, just eating less meat and processed foods would bless the lives of millions.)
And one last point of perspective:
"A number of private-sector groups have started projects to address global water supply. Breslin’s organization has experimented with a number of initiatives, including training specialists in India who can maintain communities’ water supplies and have a financial incentive to keep them operating. Coca-Cola has launched 385 projects in 90 countries, including some that protect watersheds and others that allow small farmers to irrigate more efficiently."
(It's great that Coca-cola is giving back, but how much are they taking away in resources to give people a product that is crap for their bodies and that we ultimately don't need? The list could go on and on about products that require mass production and resources that people simply don't want to give up for money, convenience or pleasure. So simply having less kids is not the ultimate solution, nor will it ever be. We have to teach our children, whether we have 1 or 4 to live better, live with less and give back more.)
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