Don’t have more kids if you can’t afford them!

[SportMum1982]

I’m not a raving Tory! But honestly I would have loved more children!!! I would have loved 4 kids but I know we cannot afford 4 kids.

Why do people expect the state to pay for their children? Bar education though! If I’m being really cruel tell me, but I feel I did want more kids but stopped.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67999028

No we do not. It only takes half a brain cell to figure out why.

We’ll need to get more taxes from whatever AI replaces

It will take over many jobs so the best bet is to tax the profits from it

@violetcuriosity which is exactly what critical illness cover looks like in reality. assume @Dacadactyl thinks you should have had a 1m cover or something because those premiums would have been cheap!

For every one of them there's a Michelle Mone or a Robert Jenrick and they've cost the country millions each.

That's without the absolute wrecking ball treasurers we've had from Osborne's disastrous "austerity" to the Truss inspired lunacy of last year which has cost the public billions.

Which is one of the fears people have about AI being unregulated, no industry will be left untouched if AI is truly left to flourish organically.

That said humans are an ingenious bunch and will find a way.

My friends a jobless mum of 4 in a 2 bed house. She goes on a lot about how she's so overcrowded and should be given a bigger house by the Council. She moved in to the house with just 1 child, so made herself overcrowded. It's the only thing we disagree on.

@SockieSockie explain then? Are you saying the gov have cracked down on immigration? It might be news to you but we have a capitalist model...

You think there are millions of Michelle Mones out there? Really?

@fatphalange oh my bad. I assumed CMS was what public welfare is called in the UK!

Exactly. No man should be able to walk away from financially supporting his children. It's a scandal that we allow it here.

Our system doesn't allow men to walk away in the sense that you will be put on a CM plan. And unless you do a test, you're stuck on it.

Our problem is that men can get away with paying an absolute pittance. The flat rate is £1 a day if the father is on benefits, from what I recall.

Women don't bother because it's not worth it. It's an insult to them and their children and allows the man bragging rights that he contributes to his child/ren (that he doesn't even see).

Well our critical illness cover pays off our mortgage if one of us got ill, so I was presuming that it'd be the same for everyone tbh.

Some can it very much depends on their disabillity and how it impacts them.

I agree. Usually the man fucks off and then we get people like the OP bitching about the women who’s bringing up her children.

@Yeahrightyouarethen I did, apologies

Also, we were in our 20s at this point, having a lovely time and doing well. We thought we were doing it all 'right' we earned well and had our babies. Lucky we had insurance at all to be fair. Insurance money, even a mill wouldn't last forever with 3 kids, a mortgage, carers etc. life happens

@Dacadactyl why on earth would you assume it's the same for everyone?

Had one child, wanted another as didn't want her to be an "only" had twins... 10 years later, contraceptive failure so ended up with 4. Always worked and supported as did my husband but don't think that you won't get a curve ball come your way, life just happens sometimes even for people with spreadsheets...

We just need to work out how to get taxes from it in this country so it funds stuff

Going back to the op though it does mean we can interrupt the population pyramid and we don’t need to push as much on the birth rate - and immigration will fall too at some point

Because

If there are labour gaps, we bring in people from abroad and recruit them. It gives them a better life as well.

Elderly care is one small issue compared to the strain it puts on other resources and infrastructure (food, education, health, housing, state welfare, roads, public transport).

We don't need another population crash in 80-100 years when all these new babies are grown up. Are we supposed to continue breeding like bacteria until life is shit for us all? My children and grandchildren will be alive, so I'd rather not.

The Permanent environment impact of changing land use, loss of countryside, Increased carbon footprint, more intensive food production, more cars on the road etc etc etc

You may have a point if you are looking at the situation without any emotion or understanding that people don't always make logical choices.

But - what is your solution given that you're never going to stop all people from having more children than they can afford at the time that they had them?

A solution that doesn't punish the child for the choices of the parent?

If you have one then I'm sure the government would like to hear it.

This is the kind of scenario mumsnet doesnt want to beleive
Nobody they know is like that so it cant possiby be true .

Also cover varies & you will not necessarily be covered for every illness eg cancer & certain stages.

We get taxes from it through regulating it and letting it become a saleable commodity.

Because in terms of financial planning it makes sense to have cover that pays off your biggest outgoing if one of you gets ill. It wouldn't have entered my head NOT to have cover that didn't pay off the mortgage if my DH couldn't work...precisely because I'd be in a right mess with money if he couldn't work.

Going back to the op though it does mean we can interrupt the population pyramid and we don’t need to push as much on the birth rate - and immigration will fall too at some point

The pyramid doesn't exist now; there are more over 65s than under 15 yr olds.