The morality of having large families

[Pip22]

Please consider the wider implications of having more than 2 children.
We are already living way beyond the means of this very finite planet. If there are 1 million more humans every 5 days how on earth will we ever feed them, and slow climate change?
Having big families is simply self-indulgent.
Watch David Attenborough's Horizon from 9/12/2009 via Youtube or visit the website of The Optimum Population Trust for a very detailed discussion of the facts.

we have four kids, bu many of our friends dont have them. so i have had there quota at least!

It's not just a matter of reducing the family's environmental impact while they are children. Everyone born commits to a lifetime of eating, going places, having stuff and the like.
I hope my children don't still live here when they are 25, and they probably won't want to, but it would be much more efficient if they did.

I think think I'm arguing myself into the position of having as few children as possible, erm, but I already have 2.

I largely agree with OP.

i am going to force mine to

tempt them home with goodies like hansel and gretel
feed them and wait on them to keep them here

then i will have six little Timothys from sorry and a small carbon footprint!

I think the OP has a point, even though she hasn't been back to defend herself. I live in a London borough that is currently experiencing an unprecedented population explosion. Maternity units are streched beyond their finite resources. Some primary schools are having to go to three form entry permenently to accommodate the extra children.
Parents were outraged that this was happening and campaigned vigorously against school expansion. Where are these children meant to go to school/ doctors/ hospital etc etc? Life in some parts of this country now is becoming less pleasant as a result of population growth. It is estimated that our population in this country will rise to 70 million in the next few years. What are we saying? We should be able to have as many children as we want indefinately, as long as those other people don't? We will have to think about it, whether we like it or not, or life for our children will become unbearable.

Nibbly you do9 have to look at that on a national level though: here schools are experiencing intake problems (even the MC well respected Church schools) becuase they cannot fill places sot ehre'sclearly more going on somewhere.

However as my ds3 won't ever be able to have his own home / car /etc do I get to claim back 0.5 on my quota? Ta.

Gah. The eco arguement is the only thing I have to feel smug about (would love dc2 but can't, for various reasons).

So therefore I agree with the OP

Ditto OtterInaSkoa

bridewolf, I agree with you as well. Of my peer group at university (say about 30 closish), less than half have more than one child and most of those have none at all. Some really really clever people whose genes are utterly going to waste. Some of those are gay men, some are career people who have become so immersed in work that they havent found the time, some have just never found the right person, and some have just sneaked a baby in (we're all in our early 40s now.). A childless academic friend told me last year that I was only using his quota, so not to feel guilty about having a 4th child. Of those of use who have children, most have only two, and a very small handful have 3 or 4. One has 5, but she's a special case as she had them in 2 pregnancies.

Just did a quick recap of 21 friends: including me and my husband (same peer group at university) there are 32 children. Three of those couples are two university friends together iyswim (they married each other), so roughly twice as many parents as the 21 I quoted, let's say 38. So 32 children for 38 people doesn't start to look like such a huge birth rate really.

Hey, this is a discussion forum - what's wrong with a good old debate!?! Why do poeple get so offended by someone else's opinion - can't people debate sensibly as adults without resorting to "piss off"!

I might not agree with you Pip22, but there's nothing wrong with raising your point...

Maybe we could kill the OP, that would be one less person on the planet at least!

there are plenty of pressures on people in the UK to have fewer children of purely financial and fertility- based kinds. A campaign is unnecessary.

as mentioned earlier - helping women in the third world beome educated, control their fertility and otherwise get access to healthcare would be a much more worthy use of time.

Why do people on here always have to get so excited.

It is a debate not a public lynching.

In fact let's start a thread within a thread - is it possible that those who are just abusive did not have a particularly good point to make?

Ali (trying not to sound antagonistic because I'm not!) - who has been abusive?