Please turn off the TV

Doobedoo said:
They’ve done it since the tories have been in charge. But yeah sacrifices have to be made, just as me and my wife will have to make sacrifices.

We won’t be able to afford child care, or we will but It means my wife will have to hand over her entire wage just to pay for it, which we are not willing to do. So I will be the bread winner and she will stay at home and raise our child. She will quite probably go back to work 2 days a week and luckily her mum will look after the little one on those days, but we will have to be sensible with our money in the same way my mate did.
Click to expand...

You certainly can't have it all on a average salary.

For us forgoing kids should hopefully allow a lot more things that would otherwise be out of price range.

Mainly nice holidays. Main thing I value is experiences.

Kids kind of block that financially and especially time. (I know many will say having kids is the best experience ever however!)
 
I know a guy who's married with no kids and he lives for his holidays. It's the most important thing to him. I'm sure in the inside her spends lots of time telling himself he's made the right decision not to have kids. Meanwhile the desire for more holidays is unrelenting.
 
I’ve never wanted kids but even if I did I can’t justify bringing a child into this world when I have so little hope for it. I’m the oldest of five and the opportunities I had were greater than that of my youngest sibling. If that’s what erodes in ~10 years then Christ knows what a kid in 20 or 30 years time faces.

Maybe if governments want people to have more kids they should try and sell them a more hopeful future.
 
Chris Wilson said:
That's a lot of migrants brought ashore! I am not sure that's exactly what their benefactors had in mind for their legacies however.
Click to expand...

I'm not even surprised any more when you somehow manage to derail a thread with the same old tired, xenophobic nonsense. Every. Single. Time. We get it, you hate foreigners :rolleyes:

I must be your worst nightmare, not only am I a second generation immigrant, but I'm working in England and my partner is English. The cheek of me eh, coming over here, stealing your jobs AND your women? :D

I'll hazard a guess that you don't mind immigrants like me though, because I'm white.
 
Last edited:
One More Solo said:
I’ve never wanted kids but even if I did I can’t justify bringing a child into this world when I have so little hope for it. I’m the oldest of five and the opportunities I had were greater than that of my youngest sibling. If that’s what erodes in ~10 years then Christ knows what a kid in 20 or 30 years time faces.

Maybe if governments want people to have more kids they should try and sell them a more hopeful future.
Click to expand...
I think you should just say you don’t want kids. “Having so little hope for the world” sounds naive, tell me when was a good time in human history to have kids? Its always been hard.
 
Haggisman said:
I'm not even surprised any more when you somehow manage to derail a thread with the same old tired, xenophobic nonsense. Every. Single. Time. We get it, you hate foreigners :rolleyes:

I must be your worst nightmare, not only am I a second generation immigrant, but I'm working in England and my partner is English. The cheek of me eh, coming over here, stealing your jobs AND your women? :D

I'll hazard a guess that you don't mind immigrants like me though, because I'm white.
Click to expand...

Did you land on our shores illegally, in a dinghy? Having found more than enough funding to enter the UK by a legal and conventional means, but having deliberately chosen an illicit entry, (in many people's opinion)? Aided in your blatant criminality by the RNLI and other criminally sympathetic organisations? Unvetted with "lost" documentation?

If not you are most welcome.
 
Last edited:
Bassmansam said:
I think you should just say you don’t want kids. “Having so little hope for the world” sounds naive, tell me when was a good time in human history to have kids? Its always been hard.
Click to expand...
Literally the first words of my post. I’m not making excuses. I don’t want them, full stop. I just don’t have any interest in them. I’m happy for friends that have them but it doesn’t spark anything within me.

Notwithstanding that, the sums being talked about in this thread for childcare are eye watering. I don’t doubt having kids is hard either way but it was certainly easier when households could be supported on a single wage, families lived closer together, there was better access to nurseries, schools etc. We’ve seen a decline in living standards for the first time in memory and there is little evidence or desire that will change.
 
One More Solo said:
I’ve never wanted kids but even if I did I can’t justify bringing a child into this world when I have so little hope for it. I’m the oldest of five and the opportunities I had were greater than that of my youngest sibling. If that’s what erodes in ~10 years then Christ knows what a kid in 20 or 30 years time faces.

Maybe if governments want people to have more kids they should try and sell them a more hopeful future.
Click to expand...
People have been feeling like this for 100 years or so, not sure if the apocalypse is nigh or not but it is definitely coming!
 
Bassmansam said:
:cry:I think you should just say you don’t want kids. “Having so little hope for the world” sounds naive, tell me when was a good time in human history to have kids? Its always been hard.
Click to expand...
This is the best time in human history to raise children, when was better, 100, 200, 300, 3000 years ago? When their chances of surviving to adulthood were lower than dying from any number of horrific things. Perhaps its best he doesn't have kids, must be a real joy to be around
 
Last edited:
a1ex2001 said:
People have been feeling like this for 100 years or so, not sure if the apocalypse is nigh or not but it is definitely coming!
Click to expand...
No they haven't. Since WW2, it's been the norm to expect a higher standard of living for your kids than you had. That's only had to reverse since 2008.
 
Lord-Jaffa said:
This is the best time in human history to raise children, when was better, 100, 200, 300, 3000 years ago? When their chances of surviving to adulthood were lower than dying from any number of horrific things. Perhaps its best he doesn't have kids, must be a real joy to be around
Click to expand...
Putting it on a timeline like that is ridiculous. As other posters have already pointed out, living standards are declining for the first time now.

Regardless, the overwhelming presumption in this thread is that people will regret not having kids. How many people have kids and regret it? Surely it's better for all concerned that those who have doubts don't just conform to societal expectations in the hope it will turn out to be OK?
 
Living standards staying flat or even slightly decline is par for the course over human history. Humans became used to rapid growth triggered by the Industrial Revolution and thought it would continue but really it only lasted 100 years before we returned to normal

We're now in a world where we have mastery of the materials and resources around us, we have already invented everything that was easy to make and we have produced well educated generations and now we have flattened off. The newest generation isn't significantly better educated than the previous anymore and their productivity isn't significantly superior either.
 
Last edited:
One More Solo said:
Putting it on a timeline like that is ridiculous. As other posters have already pointed out, living standards are declining for the first time now.

Regardless, the overwhelming presumption in this thread is that people will regret not having kids. How many people have kids and regret it? Surely it's better for all concerned that those who have doubts don't just conform to societal expectations in the hope it will turn out to be OK?
Click to expand...

Living standards are declining, are they though?

Has it ever been this comfy? Declining compared to what?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom