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

I don't think anyone begrudges supporting families where there has been a family break down and have now become single parent families. Nor ones where a parent has died. However, the death one is a strange one. I have several life insurance policies for myself and my husband. Does no one have these?

My issue is with those people who have never worked and don't intend on working and literally popping out kids Willy nilly. I'm all for making sure those children are cared for, subsidized uniform and food vouchers etc. I had two children. Because I checked we couldn financially afford it.

This.

Makes no sense for the population to keep rising. It just kicks the 'elderly care' can down the road.. Plus all of the other issues above. Then what?

How the fuck do you stop growing old Is there something to stop it that i havent heard of

Has oldraception been invented and ive missed it 🤔

Not all of them.

Obviously not ALL of them! Do I need to add that caveat every time even though it’s obvious?!

Immigration from outside the EU makes the U.K. a net profit of £5billion a year. I would much rather solve the issue of our ageing population by encouraging more children from families who value education and work.

So how much disposable income and savings in the bank should you have before you are allowed to have state sanctioned children?

There is something intrinsically wrong with a society that measures capacity for caring by money in the bank and I'm glad to live in a country that doesn't cap the number of children a family can have.

Perhaps the very rich could trickle down some of that wealth so that low earners don't need to rely on benefits.

I don't know many couples who pop out child after child and I live in a quite deprived city. Almost mythical really.

They are. Much more than in other countries. Our discrimination laws are very tight. If you think we need to ‘diversify’ you would be shocked by a lot of the rest of the world.

But the driver of the increase is not profound physical disability in fact they have reduced. We have fewer people now with what used to be more common conditions such as Downs Syndrome due to prenatal testing.

Up to 22 weeks everyone has a choice. Might not be a choice you want to make but it’s still a choice and should be owned.

There is no reason to have a child
you can’t afford.

The UK does not have a falling population. Net immigration was something like 650,000 last year.

I said it because my last two sets of neighbours have been EU immigrants. Romanian I believe. Let's just say they were not the type of hard workers you would want. Scarpered I think after not paying bills and rent. Nightmare neighbours. Obviously also have decent families who have come to the UK as well here.

Curious about why you hold people on low wages and benefits in such low esteem? Do you actually know anybody or have friends from that group? Just the contempt drips from your posts.

Has she had therapy? A lot cheaper than kids!

So given that the evidence suggests this punitive welfare policy is largely ineffectual at stopping the poorest people (those not working or in minimum wage jobs) from having more than two children, and given there's evidence that pushing larger families on the lowest incomes into destitution results in damage to the mental and physical health of parents and children, and damages children's chances in education, you still think we should continue with it, to make a point to the adults in these families, even if the cost of doing so is also paid by children who have zero control over any of this?

In the end, the planet cannot support more human beings. We need the population to fall, no matter how uncomfortable the 'boomers' may find that.

If we are to feed and house everyone adequately, as a global population, we need to have fewer babies.

I have one. I would have liked more but I didn't want to settle and so left it until the last moment for my one. I can provide well for my one child, no benefits, but I don't live in London.

It’s funny how women for whom having another child would be a disaster normally manage to avoid it.

it’s the ones who know the system will help who seem to end up accidentally having a baby (note I say having a baby not getting pregnant)

You make it sound like a choice. It isn't really. No woman should be forced into an abortion she doesn't want.

Who would abort at 22 weeks unless for medical reasons?!?

Where has anyone said that only people with x amount of money and/or savings should/can have children?

The argument is people having more than 2 children and then complaining they cannot manage because they only get benefits for 2.

Did you even read the article which is about a mother with 5 children?

Stick to 2 and if the worst happens it will be easier to cope

And then they squeal like crazy when the handouts lead to runaway inflation because as a country we borrow and print money or pay for all these freebies.

Economic illiteracy, chronic laziness, and an entitled attitude is proving to be a deadly combination for this country.

Yes. This. All children deserve a good start in life.

To all those proponents of freebies for people who choose to have kids they cannot afford, how do you want to pay for it?

Taxation? Well, just look at the basket case that Scotland is starting to become. As taxes rates go up, net take comes down proportionally. Just the other day, there was a thread about a teacher wanting to drop hours because of the new tax rate. In any case, socialists always want only those earning more than them to pay tax. That’s if they are working at all.

Borrowing? Sure, let’s borrow more. It’s not like it did Greece any harm.

Printing money? Yeah look how that turned out in the last 15 years. Inflation, anyone?

Is it ignorance of the cap perhaps? Do these people just not know?!

Whatever it is, you can't just have people continuing to have kids that are provided for by the benefit system ad infinitum. They're just not capable people, nor are they capable parents....as evidenced by the fact that they are having more kids than they can afford.

I agree. Those children's lives are being made harder by their parents poor choices. It's not their fault their parents have more children than they can afford, but neither is it anyone else's but their parents. Much of the time, those children will not have good outcomes. They will not have the space or the resources spent on them to ensure they can even educate themselves out of poverty without the mountain they have to climb imposed on them by their parents 'entitlement' to have as many children as they want. Yes, people have family breakdowns etc, but if you are living in poverty having more children will not make your or your children's lives better. There are always people living in hostels or in tiny damp flats pulling sad faces on the TV and they always have several children, and often a baby they have brought into an already difficult situation.

It would seem so

It annoys me when people churn out this line. I think very few people have children they never intend to pay for. Life happens, relationships and contraception fails, some kids born with disabilities (though I have a severely autistic DS and still work close to full time but I am sticking myself in an early grave in doing so). I think the two cap rule just ends up putting people in poverty that don't deserve it (single or bereaved parents, or parents of kids which need 24 hour specialised care).

The money people get from popping out kids for benefits is still a piss in the ocean when you look at what our current government have wasted on their corrupt fraudster buddies. We the Bristish love to blame the poor guys though. It hasn't done us any favours blaming the small guy. Look at the state of things now.

@Thebestwaytoscareatory

So instead of saying "don't have more kids if you can't afford it" maybe we should be saying "don't get old if you can't afford your own care"

It's relatively easy to avoid getting pregnant (obviously there are people who are in abusive relationships who maybe can't). However a pensioner can't really disappear. Unless those on low incomes find a way to disappear 🫠 You're being deliberately obtuse.