...Why People Have 328942394823 Children When They Earn Like $20 A Week... Not Including Tax.

With that extra nudge from Becca, I bring you... this:

Having a child is like having a pet. You feed them, you play with them, you wash them, you look after them and you watch them slowly grow up. They need your attention, your love, your embrace, your time and your effort. And because children need a more nutritious range of food and supplements, as well as clothes, toys and other necessities, they are much more costly to have than a dog or a cat (people do buy toys for their pets and some even dress them up but I don't think anyone sends them to day care or primary school). Money/income then becomes an essential factor when raising children and sadly not all parents have them.

So if you can barely afford (or not even!) the rent and the basic necessities for yourself with the amount of money you earn, what on earth makes you think you'll be able to take care of like three children? Or seven. Or maybe even 15. You can't. You're gonna struggle and things are gonna get ugly. Sadly, this not only occurs in LEDC countries but also in MEDC countries too.

Just take a moment to think of what you are essentially doing: you are bringing up three children, or eight, or even 22 (you get the picture) into the world that you live in - the one where you lack disposable income and live a very economically-difficult life. Unless your children are geniuses or get lucky, they are probably going to stay in this condition that you've condemned them to for most of their life. That is what a poverty cycle is. They can't get out of this trap because you either can't afford to feed them properly or you don't have enough money left to give them a proper education. It's rather cruel isn't it, to place innocent children in an overpowering living situation. Take your time - have one, or even two (if you can afford it), and just have more when your economic situation improves. It may shatter your life-long dream for a huge family but that sacrifice is definitely better than watching your children starve and suffer a childhood of not having anything.

However, as usual, there are exceptions or unexpected events that contribute to what has caused my confusion.  Because many people in LEDCs earn their money through primary goods or manual work, they tend to have a lot of children for manual labour or a few extra hands around the farm. That is understandable and with the children's help, it is likely for them have their income high enough to provide for the whole family (but that requires some sort of steady base from the parents to begin with i.e. have a farm)

There's also the factor of accidental pregnancies, whether it is through rape, through a condom breaking or just plain lack of education or birth control. But honestly, how convincing is it when you tell someone "Oh, my 17 children - they were all unplanned"? Surely, you would have figured out by now how babies are made - I mean, you've had enough to actually plot a graph. Why can't you see this pattern or learn from your "mistakes"? Was that extra night in bed worth risking having another child that you can't afford to take care of? Don't you already feel bad enough that you can't give your current children what they want? 

Whether it is due to your culture, your dreams or just plain pleasure, take the time to think about what you're actually doing to your kids before you... erm... yeah. Children indeed bring you joy and assistance, but half a dozen of children sitting in front of you with a piece of bread to share will definitely break your heart - that is if  they've made it past their infant years.

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Someone has pointed out that people might have a lot of kids due to increased dole money or benefits from the government - that makes little sense to me. I doubt the increase is going to be enough to pay for all your children's needs, so overall there is still a net loss of money. If you are a parent who has children just for the sake of having more government money to spend on yourself  and end up neglecting your kids, then you don't deserve to be a parent.