Responsible people aren't having kids

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Has anyone pondered this as one of the biggest potential pitfalls in the future of British society? People who are smart, responsible adults don't have kids until they are in a solid financial situation with a good job, right sized home and have that air of complete (or near complete) stability.

By contrast, the ballsacks of British society have kids no matter the circumstances and are kept afloat by the government or blind loved ones should their neglect of thought come back to bite them.

This creates a dilemma with regards to who is actually populating our future. For every adult who has made a responsible decision to have a child in the right circumstances and will give that child a decent upbringing, 30 others are conceived by complete jerks.

To add insult to injury we live more now in a society where we don't really own anything and owe everyone everything than we ever have. Many people don't own their houses, their cars, their TVs, even their clothes. Everyone owes someone something. This further pushes ‘good’ people’s reluctance to procreate.

This isn't a discussion like that utterly stupid proposition to 'stop' people having kids that which was locked. But surely the rewards are being directed in the wrong place? I'd like a kid at some point, but I'm not realistically going to do it for the next 3-4 years because I don't believe I'm financially stable enough to support a family as of yet. However, I could drop all my responsibility right now, get my girlfriend up the duff and we'd be kept afloat. There's something wrong with that situation? Where’s my incentive by the government to procreate because, say, I contribute a decent amount to the society I live in?

You could even go far as to suggest that the problem with vast majority of the youth of today is derived from the amount of trouble they probably get at home, because they were conceived without thought by parents who don't appreciate responsibility. This then creates a further diluted problem that will pass down from generation to generation, all fuelled by the fact that parents are almost encouraged to an extent to void themselves of ambition and responsibility in the pursuit of stacking kids with rewards to boot?
 
There's nothing new about this really, is there?

My income doesn't really allow for me to afford children. I have enough money to house, feed and entertain myself. I can't afford to raise children. Raising a child to 21 costs about 200,000 pounds. Meanwhile poor people the world over, procreate without bounds.

Then you have to ask yourself, do the upper echelons really want a bigger middle class? No , I guess. Lot's of stupid uneducated people are easier to control.
 
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I thought life has always been:
so to school/uni/apprentiship > graduate > get a good job > buy a house > buy a car > get a wife > have kids.

You mean its not like that anymore??!!
 
I agree and in a more broad sense the whole human race is undergoing what could be classed as evolutionary suicide. Natural selection is being subverted to disastrous effects.
 
It was aptly said on the Simpsons a while back during the episode where Frank Grimes pops round to Homer's house. He sees how nice it is, notes what Homer's like and comes out with "Simpson, if you lived in any other country in the world, you'd have starved to death long ago!"

Kind of applies to this country as well.
 
I think it's our incredibly unequal society that puts pressure on responsible people to postpone child rearing and instead focus on their careers. Conversely the more unequal a society is the bigger its underclass will be who aren't equipped with the skills to formulate a considered breeding plan.
 
I guess that depends on the quality of life you want for your children.

It's called not being a materialistic selfish idiot (£200,000 is a load of ******** straight off)... although there are external circumstances making life very difficult for the average Joe and Jane, I'll give you that.
 
If you go through life thinking I cant afford kids, you are a muppet.

You will always find money to have kids.

That makes no sense to me, what if you have no money left, where's it going to come from? The government? The bank? I think that's mostly his argument.
 
It's called not being a materialistic selfish idiot (£200,000 is a load of ******** straight off)... although there are external circumstances making life very difficult for the average Joe and Jane, I'll give you that.

Maybe it's not £200k, but raising kids *is* expensive for those who have to pay for absolutely everything else. Let's call them "Responsible people" still.

All your bills go up, for a start...then there's feeding and clothing and entertaining them. If you want them to have a rich and varied childhood experience then there's places to take them. Driving them and their friends around... blah blah blah. Extra curricular activities maybe...

Perhaps that *is* being materialistic, but so what?

I haven't had kids yet because personally I didn't feel ready/up to the challenge (I'm 30) but most of all didn't find anyone before that I'd actually want to have a child with.

I now do feel ready and want a child(ren), but I've also spent the whole of my 20s doing what *I* want, when I want, how I want and enjoying being able to afford to. 99% of that will disappear if I have kids. I'm ready for that too, but I don't want my kids to have a miserable existence.

As a middle class white male whose always been employed or a student (part time employed) I'm entitled to nothing from the government... having kids is gonna be massively hard for me.

I have an great job - at least I enjoy it, money is ok, but it's ok for me only...

Responsible people have to pay for everything, and also for irresponsible people. That's not fair.
 
It's called not being a materialistic selfish idiot (£200,000 is a load of ******** straight off)... although there are external circumstances making life very difficult for the average Joe and Jane, I'll give you that.

Materialistic stupid idiots? For wanting to feed their kids? For affording care for the child or being able to half their joint income? You realise that is what responsible people have to consider, right? A child costs on average £100,000 from birth to adulthood. No, responsible people don't want their kids to grow up in near-poverty. That's definitely not idiotic, and it's definitely not materialistic.

Wanting quality of life doesn't mean fast cars and mansions, you have a quality of life over the third world. It's a very relative term.
 
The problem is that people think it's wrong to be materialistic and not wanting to have kids because you want to live well. Why is that a problem?
 
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