as a person who is at child-bearing peak age that’s about to go downhill fast, i have to make a decision soon. children or no?
all emotional aspects of having children/grandchildren aside:
it’s been a generalization that people think child-free couples are selfish. is that still so in today’s world? with overpopulation, maybe people who choose to not have children are thinking on a more global level. the population is increasing exponentially. there are more people on the planet today than the total people who have lived on the earth, ever. with decreasing resources and increasing numbers, is it really that selfish to choose not to have children?
is it more selfish to have children? or at least, is it more selfish to have more than 2 children (two to replace you and co-procreator when you die)? don’t get me wrong; i have three siblings, and i’m glad they all were born. but in a global economic system where it seems that resources in general are going downhill pretty fast, is having more than two children actually a burden to the family? i know i look askance at families of 4 children or more. 2 kids i’m fine with, 3 is decent, 4 is sketchy, and 5 or more, i am just shocked. and i come from a family of 4 kids!
so, what is selfish when it comes to childbearing? is it just something we should keep our nose out of and let people’s reproductive systems be their own business? at what point do we have to say we can’t maintain this number of people on the planet? china has already limited number of children. people are starving in third-world countries while we have copious amounts of everything. what is selfish?
it all boils down to this:
do i have kids or not?