to be a bit scared to have children because...

[InMyLittleHead]

in all likelihood the world will be totally buggered in 50 years time? Climate change, terrorism, economic gloom and doom and general crap.

Does anyone with children ever watch the news and get genuinely scared about their future?

I expect prospective parents were thinking exactly the same thing 50 years ago. They survived, we have (so far), ours will too. Probably.

Yes frequently

I worry enormnously about the future - but not in the way lembit opik does (which made me feel better tbh!)

I cant watch tv programmes about the environment, climate change etc - gives me nightmares

Yes. But I didn't think about it before I got pregnant, and even if I had I would probably have still wanted a child.

I try to block it out....

You should be more scared about the toll it can take on your relationship and mental health imo - people frequently don't appreciate that potential

Well, that too..

But it's worth it

Well, we grew up at the time of the Cold War and When the Wind Blows. Our parents at the time of the Second World War. Life has still been worth living.

Yes, I worry. Less about my own children than about theirs and their grandchildren.

My baby was weeks old when the London bombings happened and I did wonder what kind of world I had brought my baby in to.

No, I bury my head in the sand.

The world changes and the generations change with it, the threat of corruption will seem normal to them I reckon - Can't let yourself think or worry bout it too much

On Sept 11 2001, I was pregnant with DD. I can remember sitting on the couch thinking, "God, what kind of a world is this that I am bringing a child into?"

Once DD was born, I have tried to put these kind of thoughts out of my head. And I do not watch the news as much.

I do worry about our future and a lot ore since we had DSs.

I am not at all worried about climate change. The evidence is not strong and he effects are so slow it could easily reverse through natural cycles we do not fully undersand. Terrorism, I am also less concerned about as I lived in London during the height of the IRA bombing campaign. The risk of beng caught in a terrorist attack is incredibly small.

I am much more worried about the effect of the huge debts we as citizens and our Govt has taken on which is the highest in the Western world per head of population. Our children will be left to pay that off after we have gone. My work brings me face to face with the awful reality of the economic situation. Banks are still in a really dire state and businesses are struggling to stay afloat. We could still very easily slip into a deflationary economic collapse like the 1930s that had multi generational impacts on families.

People have been worrying about their children and the future since humans lived in caves. There's always something.

All the time.

I often feel guilty when I look at DD but as hmc said, it is not healthy or productive to dwell on what ifs and possibilities.

No doubt now, I will spend the rest of the day reminding myself of this

I worried terribly on Sept 11 2001, pg with No 2 and with a toddler. I thought the world was coming to an end.

Since then I, oddly, don't worry an awful lot. We are all here, and for the moment healthy.

I think I tell myself that many, many people live lives - with small children - that are a constant battle between life and death. But WE don't. And for that I am grateful.

MmeLindt - snap! I had just found out I was pregnant with DC4 and wondered quite what I'd done. But most of the time I have an ostrich approach - and remember that my grandparents/great grandparents made it through the 30s Depression, the World Wars etc.

Saying that, I worry more about illness or accidents than about terrorism or global warming. Simply because the risk of serious illness is much higher than the risk of being involved in a terrorist attack.

I try not to worry too much on a daily basis. We cannot live our life on the basis of What If...

I was 3 months pregnant with our firstborn on September 11, and watched in horror from the window of a bus which had stopped in a traffic jam outside Dixons. I could not believe my own eyes, as the crowd gathered to watch tv and the events unfolding.

I was a young child when the reactor in Chernobyl "blew". I think everybody worry. Not just about their own children, but future grandchildren too.

I take courage in the fact that if anything should change, I dont think it will be OUR generation doing it (we havent really managed so far), then maybe the next. We are putting children on this planet in the faint hope that they will be enlightened enough to tackle tough issues head on.

I worry about the stuff that matters now, like where are my keys? Who ate all the caramel biscuits? Have I got time for a shower?

You know what, day to day, I am also more concerned about showering, my purse, the recycling, what to cook for dinner....

Have a look at this for some food for thought

My dad was in the second world war. He saw some awful things. He said he remembers thinking (as a young man)..how will anyone ever want to have children again after this? .. in a world where people can do this to another person.
He died 3 years ago. He left 7 children, 16 grandchildren and 8 gt grandchildren.
Like QS maybe he also thought our generation would do a better job of it.

YABU, why do you think that the world will be worse than now? Or better, come to that?

I'm not saying that it's horrendous at the moment, simply that life (and history) throws up a mixture of good and bad, scary and secure, success and failure.

Very odd and ever so slightly neurotic IMO, sorry!