BellaOnline Forums Relationships Married No Kids More blather in our local media

Geeze, even if it did cost the state to look after CF people, they saved all that money on not schooling our children, etc, etc, etc....

Off topic: Tress, your new avatar rocks! I have a similar image on a wallpaper. I think it's over St. Albans (The Message), but I'm not sure.

Here's what I don't get: Why is a decline in the population a bad thing? If there were fewer people, wouldn't there be most jobs, more resources, more spots in top universities, etc., available to the people who are here? Isn't the effect that we are having on the environment and the oil crisis/water crisis, every other shortage an indication that maybe we've exceeding (or are approaching) the planet's population maximum?

The whole population control issue is not why I am CF...I'm not sure I 100% buy into that either, but really, is it really that bad if things got a little less crowded?

And they NEVER talk about child-free men contributing to this 'problem.' I love how the pressure is on us (women) to bear and raise the child, but also on us to take the blame if there is no child.

Ooh, the sensationalism. There's some pretty epic fail in here. Things I liked :

"The report says people with children, or those planning to have a family, may view voluntary childlessness negatively. Some may hold the more extreme view that the rise in childlessness reflects the derogation of marriage, family and religious or cultural values."

Seriously, why are my choices anyone else's business ?

"The report is part of an ongoing investigation into childlessness, as revealed by the 2006 Census. Another paper, to be released later this year, will look at the socio-economic characteristics of childless women in more detail."

... and probably conclude that we're all freaks. Pffftt. The bells are ringing, and people are starting to take notice. We've finally figured out that the mommy myth isn't all it's cracked up to be.

"Deciding not to have children happens as a consequence of other life events," says the latest report from Statistics New Zealand. "Education, career, mortgages, changes in family and partners for many couples, childlessness is what happens while they are making other plans".

No s**t, Sherlock. The same website was raving on last week about a young couple making $130,000 pa, who bought their first house, are now mortgaged to their eyeballs, and have accepted that as a result they're not going to be thinking about a family for a long time, if at all. These are the choices you make. It's not like we're just all off having a fabulously hedonistic time, some of us are sensible about the reality we live in.

"If you haven't got a family, there have to be other mechanisms... there is a cost to the state".

These people are going to be looking after themselves a whole lot better than someone with no retirement plan, whose two kids skip off overseas to blow off their student loans, and never come back. It's not like a family guarantees any sort of old age care. And there's not a cost to the state in child healthcare? Anyone with half a brain knows that they're huge drains on the healthcare system - they have the best and newest hospital in Auckland all to themselves, while the average person gets stuck in Middlemore and is lucky to make it out alive.

"Didham says the introduction of the contraceptive pill in 1959 has been blamed for declining fertility."

Yay for having the choice!

"[But] it would be difficult to argue that society is worse off if people who have neither the time, nor the inclination to raise children, choose not to start a family."

Cue the Hallelujah Chorus!! Ding ding ding, we have a winner!!

LOL. Ah, it's about time we had a nice Pikasam rant. Thank you.

Ha! "Rant on" "rant off"

Sorry. But the tone of most of the "childfree discourses" just tends to be so "the sky is falling coz of all the ebil childfwee wimminz" - and I'm tired today so it particularly annoyed me :-)

Don't be sorry! I enjoyed it immensely.

What she said. Loved it.

Every day, I watch the news and see that the cost of something is going up - stuff that affects us daily - the cost of gas, groceries, utilities, etc. The list goes on and on. It really hits home, even though DH & I just have the kitties and ourselves to provide for - I can only imagine what it would be like if we had kids - they're way expensive!

I don't understand all this panic about the population declining, etc., and in my opinion, people who choose not to spawn should be applauded, because we're not contributing to the overwhelming world demand for oil, food, and other goods/services. I am thinking that in our world right now, the last thing that we should be doing is popping out kids left and right.

You know, a lot of people are going to fuel-efficient cars (which we have) because it's "better for the environment." But when it comes to having kids, they do more damage to the environment than a gas-guzzler. I don't mean just KIDS. I mean, adding to the population. Every kid you pop out will consume as much energy as you.

Save the environment - take birth control!